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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 














Taj Mahal, Agra — South Facade. 



THE 

LAND OF THE VEDA 

BEING 

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 

OF 

INDIA 

Its People, Castes, Thugs, and Fakirs 

ITS RELIGIONS, MYTHOLOGY, PRINCIPAL MONUMENTS, 
PALACES, AND MAUSOLEUMS 



TOGETHER WITH THE 



INCIDENTS OF THE GREAT SEPOY REBELLION 



ILLUSTRATED ' • ., -• ' 



l^TETTsZ- EIDITIOn^ 



By WILLIAM' butler, D.D 



NEW YORK : HUNT & EATON 

CINCINNATI : CRANSTON & CURTS 

1895 



Composition, electrotypiiig, 
printing, and binding by 

Hunt & Eaton, 
150 Fifth Ave., New York. 



Copyright by 

HUNT & EATON, 

1894. 






PREFACE. 



TH E writer of this book has aimed to act toward the reader in 
the relation of a guide, as though he were going over the 
ground again, and giving the benefit of his experience, in pointing 
out the objects of interest with which years and study have famil- 
iarized his own mind. The thread of the narrative runs through 
the work, and, so far as the subject permitted, its continuity has 
been preserved. 

In a theme like that of India, and after the reading and note- 
taking of fifteen years, it is a difficult task for an author to trace 
every entry to its source, or adequately to discriminate between 
what is original and what is borrowed. Every reasonable effort, 
however, has been made to give proper acknowledgment wherever 
it was found desirable to use the ideas or language of others. 

While the denominational relation of the writer is evident enough, 
he trusts that there will not be found on these pages a single sen- 
tence that can give offense to any member of Christ's Church, but, 
on the contrary, that their perusal may encourage and strengthen 
the faith of God's elect in that almighty Power which, even in the 
idolatrous and conservative East, is so manifestly subduing all 
things unto Himself. Here may be discerned the dawn of that 
day, so long foretold, when all Oriental races shall be blessed in a 
Redeemxcr who was himself Asiatic by birth and blood and the 
sphere of His personal ministry — whose cross was erected on that 
continent, and whose first ministers and members were taken 
from among that people. The hundreds of millions of their de- 
scendants now await this redemption, and shall yet joyously unite 
to crown him " Lord of all." 

The writer has not concealed his conviction that human history, 



4 PREFACE. 

and the movements and changes of thrones, and powers, and 
kingdoms, can be fully understood only in the light of the doc- 
trine of the Second Psalm. Jesus Christ, the divine and eternal 
Son of God, who created and redeemed this world, is its " Master 
and Lord." The number, the malignity, the counsel of his foes, are 
lighter in his estimation than the chaff of the summer threshing- 
floor, and as easily swept from the path of his almighty move- 
ments. He has not abandoned this world, with its thousand 
millions of accountable and dying men, to be the victims of the 
whims and caprice of selfish potentates, deceiving errorists, or 
wicked spirits in high places, to be forever crushed down beneath 
their tyranny and misdirection. He has undertaken, and will 
accomplish, man's redemption in every sense, temporal, spiritual, 
and eternal. 

That repose which the world, and particularly its Oriental por- 
tion, so much needs and has so long sighed for, is to be found 
only in Him ; and it will come when He has overthrown the foes 
of the world's welfare, and rectified its many wrongs. Then, be- 
neath the benign administration of this " Prince of Peace," human- 
ity at length shall rest, each of them under his own vine and fig- 
tree, and none shall make them afraid. 

The government of Christ alone explains the condition and the 
history of the world. We acknowledge him to be " The blessed 
and only Potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords," 
whose scepter sways "all power in heaven and in earth." At his 
feet, who is " Prince of the kings of the earth," and " Head over 
all things to the Church," is laid this humble effort to illustrate 
his high providence, as one more heartfelt tribute to be added to 
the many which are already ascribing — " Blessing, and honor, and 
glory, and power unto Him who sitteth upon the throne, and unto 
the Lamb for ever and ever ! " W. B. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PEOPLE OP INDIA — CASTE AND ITS IMMUNITIES. 
Txieat Emergencies of Christianity— Our Narrow Escape— Origin of Caste— The 
Brahmin-Brahminical Devotions-Prerogatives and Investiture-Discriminations in 
the Brahmin's Favor by the Law— Four Stages of a Brahmin's Life— Brahmmism a 
Dead Failure— The People of India— The Ladies of the Land— The Nautch Girls— 
The Gentlemen of India— Conversion and Career of Maharajah Dhuleep Singh— Habits 
of the Hindoo Aristocracy— Christianity alone Creates a Home— Hindoo Visits of 
Ceremony— Marriage Expenses— Manners and Customs Page 1 1 

CHAPTER n. 

STATISTICS, MYTHOLOGY, AND VEDIC LITERATURE. 
Civil and Religious Statistics of India— The Languages of India -India Compared 
to Europe— Trade, Commerce, and Revenue— Railroads and Telegraphs— English 
Empire— Value of India to England— The Higher Motives for English Rule— Mapping 
out Eternity— Measurements of Time— Mythology, Geography, and Astronomy of the 
Hindoos— The Vedas— Beef-eating Sanctioned by the Vedas— Manners of the Hindoos 
at the Time of the Macedonian Invasion, (326 B. C.)— Vile Character of Vedic Wor- 
ship—Deception as to the Contents of the Veda— Hindoo Literature— The Ramayana 
—The Temptation and Abduction of Seeta— The Mahabarata 66 

CHAPTER III. 

ARCHITECTURAL MAGNIFICENCE OF INDIA. 
Personal Narrative of Appointment and Journey— Our Reception in India— Charac- 
ter of Mohammedan Rule— The Moslem Dynasty Passing Away— Zeenat Mahal— The 
Khass and the Mogul Sinking Together— Architectural Taste of the Emperors- 
Moore's Blunder in Lalla Rookh— Paradise and its Privileges— The Dewanee Khass and 
its Glorious Furniture— Interview of Nadir Shah and Mohammed Shah— Tact of the 
Courtier— The First Sight of the Taj Mahal— View from the Gate— Inside of the Taj 
—The Effect of Music over the Tomb— The Taj Matchless— Origin of the Taj— The 
Lost Opportunity of Romanism at Agra— A Prayer which God will ever Refuse to 
Answer— Cost of the Taj— Etmad-ood-Doulah's Tomb— The Daughter of the Desert 
—The Heroine of Moore's Poem— The Kootub Minar— Its Origin and Style— The 
Government of Jehovah Christ over Nations and Dynasties— The Unfinished Minar— 
The Palladium of Hindoo Dominion *0' 

CHAPTER IV. 

ORIGINATING CAUSES OP THE SEPOY REBELLION. 
Position of the Emperor of Delhi— Terms of the English Bargain with the Mogul- 
Why the Munificent Provision Failed— The Pageant felt to be a Bore— Moslem Hate 



6 CONTENTS. 

of Christ and Christians — The Nana Sahib — His Agent Azeemoolah — A Hypocrite 
who has no Equal — Mohammedan Monopoly of Place and Power — Sepoy Army and 
its Disadvantages — Annexation of Oude — Dread of Christian Civilization — The Fakirs 
of India — Humorous Anecdote of Self-torturing Fakir — The Yogees — Hindoo Rules 
of Moral Perfection — Number and Expense of Saints in India — Militant Fakirs — Luck- 
now, its Beauty and Vileness — Those who Needed us Most — Our Mission Field- -Joel, 
our First Native Preacher — Peggy's Sacrifice for her Saviour Page 170 

CHAPTER V. 

'« IN PERILS BY THE HEATHEN, IN PERILS IN THE ^VXLDERNESS." 

Reception at Bareilly — A Man who Never Heard of America — The Greased Car- 
tridges — Methods and Motives Employed to Foment Rebellion — Willoughby's Gallant 
Defense of the Delhi Magazine — Massacre of Meerut and Delhi — Providential Com- 
pensations — Our Warning to Flee — Declined to Leave — Reconsideration and Flight — 
Left in the Terai at Midnight — God's Answer to a Brief Prayer — Our First Sight of 
Nynee Tal — The Massacre at Bareilly — Joel's Narrative of his Escape and Flight- - 
Death of Maria- -Bromfield-street and Bareilly on the Same Day — Massacre at Shah- 
jehanpore — The Murdered Missionaries — " Tempering the Wind to the Shorn Lamb" 
— Our Measures of Defense at Nynee Tal — The Value of Our Heads — "The Mutiny 
Baby " — How we Lived, and our Commissariat — Mutilation of our Messengers — Hun- 
gry for News — Mrs. Edwards and the Garment of Praise — Lying and Blasphemous 
Proclamations of the Rebel Authorities — The Spirit of the Moslem Creed — The Delhi 
Battle of the 23d of June — Scarcity and Dearness of our Provisions — Our Rampore 
Friend — Le Bas and the Nawab of Kurnal — The Fakir and the Baby — Our Sudden 
Flight fi?om Nynee Tal to Almorah — Again "in Perils in the Wilderness" — Light in 
the Darkness — Almorah Reached at Last — The Fearful State of Things before Delhi 
-Our Battle at Huldwanee 221 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE CAWNPORE MASSACRE AND THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. 

American Blood among the First Shed at CaviTipore — " These are They which 
Came Out of Great Tribulation " — Authorities for the Story — Sir Hugh Wheeler's 
Preparation — The Beginning of the Long Agony — A Sorrow without a Parallel — The 
Nana Sahib's Infernal Treachery — Reserves the Ladies for Another Doom — The Dark- 
est Crime in Human Histoiy — The Nana Sahib Meets General Havelock — Totally 
Routed — Havelock's Soldiers at "The Well" — "I Believe in the Resurrection of the 
Body" — The Shrine erected by a Weeping Country — Blowing Away from Guns and its 
Motive — Siege ot Lucknow — Sir Henry Lawrence's Preparation for Defense — The Dis- 
astrous Defeat of Chinhut — The Unequal Conditions of the Conflict — The Muchee 
Bawun Blown Up — Sir Henry Lawrence's Death — Determined Resolution of the Gar- 
rison — Value and Price of Stores — Soothing Influence of Prayer — The Omen of Coming 
Liberty and Peace — Havelock's Opportune Arrival at Calcutta — Military Services and 
Career — Begins his Grand March with a Handful of Troops — The Battles of Futty- 
pore and Pandoo Nuddee — Enters Cawnpore July 17th — Too Late after all to Save the 
Ladies — Crosses the Ganges and Marches for Lucknow — Wins his Seventh Victory — 
Obliged by Cholera and the Condition of his Troops to Wait for Reinforcements — 
Sir James Outram's Noble Concession — Reinforced and On his Way again — The Res- 
idency Reached and the Ladies Saved — Shut in Again — Sir Colin Campbell's Approach 
to Lucknow — Jessie Brown and her " Dinnaye Hear the Slogan ? " — Meeting of Camp- 
bell, Outram, and Havelock — Evacuation of the Residency — Havelock Dying — Recep- 
tion of the Ladies at Allahabad 293 



CONTENTIS. 7 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE CAUSES AND FAILURE OF THE SEPOY REBELLION. 

England's Misrepresentatives — The East India Company Answered by One of its 
own Hindoo Subjects— Escape of India from French Rule— Young Bengal's Opinion 
of Christianity — Native Appreciation of English Government — Hindoo Estimate of 
Missionaries and Christianity— The Interested Enemies of Br-itish Rule— Suttee with- 
out Vedic Sanction— The Mode and Extent of Suttee— The Motives of the Immolation 
—Instances of Suttee— Abolished by Lord Bentinck— The Thugs of India— Our Inter- 
view with Two Hundred of Them— Divine Sanction for Thuggeeism— What the Con- 
flict Involved— England's Confession of her Sins— A Missionary Succeeds where a Gov- 
ernment Fails— Sir John Lawrence's Christian Courage— Our Position again Assailed 
— Another Divine Interposition in our Behalf— Delhi Falls at Last— Our Journey 
Across the Himalayas— In Danger from the Wild Beasts— Arrival of our First Mis- 
sionaries at Calcutta— In Sorrow, Supposing us Killed— We Reach the Plains and Pro- 
ceed to Delhi— The Nakedness of the Captured City— Alone at Midnight at tlie Kot- 

walie The Sights of Delhi— Mohammedan Treatment of Hindoo Idols— Our Visit 

to the Fallen Emperor— Other Royal Captives awaiting Trial— Attending Christian 
Worship in the Dewanee Khass— Why the Sepoy Rebellion Failed — Constitutional 
Freedom Foreign to Eastern Minds Page 358 

CHAPTER VIII. 

RESULTS OP THE REBELLION TO CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 

Meetino- with One of the Bareilly Refugees — Colonel Gowan's Munificence — Doctor 
Wentworth's Invitation to China — Sad Service at the Meerut Post-Office — Joined by 
the Missionaries and their Wives — Lodged in the Taj Mahal — Proceed to Nynee Tal 
and Commence our Work — The Sheep-House Congregation — The Battle of Bareilly — 
The Grave of the Great Rebellion — Descent to Bareilly and Visit to my Ruined Home 

Conducting Worship for Havelock's Heroes on their Last Battle-field — Visit to Khan 

Bahadur in Prison— His Trial and How he Died — Journey to Futtyghur and Cawnpore 

Re-enter Lucknow — Reception by Sir Robert Montgomery — Marvelous Changes — 

Results of the Rebellion viewed from the Residency — Effect on the Mohammedans — 
The Irishman in the Lucknow Court — "One of You shall Chase a Thousand" — Abo- 
lition of the East India Company — Condition and Prospects of the Gospel — Martyr 
Campbell's Prayer Answered — Christianity Invincible and Inevitable 430 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE CONDITION OP WOMAN UNDER HINDOO LAW. 

Woman's Wrongs in India are Legal — Female Infanticide — "Dark Saugor's impious 
Stain" — Betrothal of Hindoo Girls — Courtship Unknown in India — Legal Age for 
Marriage — Seclusion follows Betrothal — Education of the Hindoo Maiden — Subordi- 
nation of Woman Legally Enjoined — The Wife Prohibited from Eating with her Hus- 
band — Required to Serve him while he Eats — Illustration of Royal Tyranny — A 
Woman's Curse Dreaded — Polygamy Allowed by Law — Its Extent — Polyandry— Its 
Ancient Character illustrated from the Mahabarata — Widowhood in India — Its Condi- 
tion and Effect — Death and* Funeral of the Hindoo Wife and Mother on the Banks of 
the Ganges 468 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

OUR CHRISTIAN ORPHANAGES IN ROHILCUND. 

Wages in India — Causes of Famines — Famine of i860 — Tlie Calamity Turned to 
Account — Condition of the Orphans Received — Our Female Orphanage Erected on the 
Site of Maria's Home — Aspect of our Congregations before i860 — The First Female 
Orphan — Present Condition of Efficiency and Hope Page 506 

CHAPTER XL 

RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 

Explanatory Note — Our India Theological Seminary and its Encouraging Record — 
Bishop Thoburn's Article Presenting the Pentecostal Development which God is now 
Vouchsafing to the Work so Feebly Begun amid the "Great Fight of Afflictions" in 
1857 — The Statistical Exhibit which the Work has Attained in Preparation for the 
Great Future on which it is now Entering 529 

Glossary of Indian Terms used in this Work and in Missionary Correspondence 559 

Index 569 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

CHIEFLY FROM PHOTOGRAPHS. 



The Taj Mahal — Agra, South Facade (Photo-Engraving). Frontispiece 
Map — Land of the Veda (India) Opposite page 1 1 

Page 

Hindoos and their Teachers 17 

A Brahmin 21 

Brahmins at Prayer 26 

A Lady of India in Full Dress 40 

The Nautch Girl of India 44 

The Maharajah Duleep Singh 4S 

The Mohammedans of India 62 

Mohammed Suraj-oo-deen Shah Gezee, Emperor of Delhi, the 

Last of the Moguls 106 

Zeenat Mahal, Empress of Delhi (Photo-Engraving) in 

The Dewan Khass, or Hall of Audience, Palace of Delhi.. 117 

Weighing of the Emperor in the Dewan Khass 123 

The Taj Mahal viewed from the River Jumna 128 

The Gate of the Taj 132 

The Taj Mahal 136 

Tomb OF AsuF Khan, Agra (Photo-Engraving) 15° 

The Kootub Minar "57 

The "Nana Sahib," the Author of the Cawnpore Massacre iSq 

The Fakirs of India ^93 

A Self-torturing Fakir ^9° 

The Yogee, or Silent Saint of India • • • 200 







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THE 

LAND OF THE VEDA. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PEOPLE OF INDIA CASTE AND ITS IMMUNITIES. 

IN my youth I read those amazing descriptions of Oriental 
magnificence recorded by Sir Thomas Roe— England's first 
Embassador to India — and others, describing the power and glory 
of " The Great Mogul " in such glowing terms that they seemed 
more like the romance of the "Arabian Nights" than the real 
facts, which they were, of the daily life witnessed in that splendid 
Court. Europe then heard for the first time of " The Taj," " The 
Peacock Throne," " The Dewanee Khass," " The Weighing of the 
Emperor," when on each birthday his person was placed in 
golden scales, and twelve times his weight of gold and silver, 
perfumes and other valuables, were distributed to the populace ; 
but the statements seemed so distant from probability that they 
were regarded by many as extravagances which might well rank 
with the asserted facts of " Lalla Rookh ; " so that the Embassa- 
dor, who was three years a resident, and the Poet, who had never 
been there at all, with their authorities, seemed alike to have 
drawn upon their imagination for their facts, transcending, as their 
descriptions did, the ability and the taste of European Courts. 

How little I then imagined that it would fall to my lot at a 
future day to be in that very Dewanee Khass, sitting quietly on 
the side of his Crystal Throne, beholding the last of the Mogul 
Emperors, a captive, on trial for hi? life, in that magnificent Audi- 



12 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

ence Hall of his forefathers, where millions have bowed down 
before them in such abject homage ! that I should be there to see 
him, the last of their line, descending from that throne and ^900,000 
per annum to a felon's doom and the deck of a convict ship, to 
breathe :ut the remnant of his miserable life upon a foreign shore ; 
and then after his departure to behold, as I did, that costly Khass 
given over to the spoiler's hand, rifled by the EngHsh soldiers of 
its last ornaments, and ruined forever ! 

Truly has it been said that ofttimes "fact is stranger than fic- 
tion;" and the assertion has seldom received more impressive 
illustrations than are found in the wonderful scenes which T wit- 
nessed in the Court of Delhi at the close of 1857. 

In reading that stirring account of the great victory won for 
Christianity near Poictiers on the 3d of October, A. D. 732 — when 
the brave Charles Martel, at the head of his Christian warriors, 
had to meet Abder Rahman and his Arabian cavalry, 375,000 
strong, and there to decide whether Europe should henceforth be 
Christian or Moslem — one almost trembles as he thinks what would 
have been the result had Charles failed that day ! The hosts of 
the Arabian Antichrist had already extinguished the seven 
Churches of Asia, almost swept North Africa of its Christianity, 
had passed the pillars of Hercules and conquered Spain, crossed 
the Pyrenees, and were now descending into France and Ger- 
many with the intention of completing the circuit of the Mediter- 
ranean, and making Europe as Mohammedan as they had made 
Asia Minor and Palestine. Christendom was terrified, for the 
Christian Church seemed pressed to the verge of ruin. On the 
issue of that morning, so far as human eye can penetrate the future, 
it was then and there to be decided whether Paris and London, 
and, by consequence. New York and Boston, were to be like Bag- 
dad, Constantinople, and Damascus : whether, instead of the spires 
of our churches and the sound of our Sabbath bells, our race was 
to receive, at the sword's point, another faith, whose outward 
expression would be the Mosque and the Minaret, and the Muez- 
zin's cry calling " the faithful " to the Koran and its prayers ! 



GHBISTIANITY'S GREAT EMERGENCIES. 13 

Well did Christendom bestow the surname of the " Hammer" 
upon the heroic Charles ! From the blows which he dealt out to 
those foes of Gospel civilization they reeled back, stunned into the 
keen conviction that for them and their hateful creed there was no 
home in Europe. They recrossed the Straits of Gibraltar, and, 
instead of the Gallic and Germanic races, sought an easier prey in 
the enervated communities of Oriental heathenism. Thus, instead 
of France and Britain and Germany, the Crescent of the False 
Prophet subdued, and for nearly a thousand years waved over, Egypt, 
Persia, Toorkistan, and India. But for the Providence which gave 
Charles Martel that decisive victory, Arabic had been the classical 
language, and Islamism the religion of our race and of Europe ; 
and "America and the Cape, the Compass and the Press, the 
Steam-engine, the Telescope, and the Copernican System, might 
all have remained undiscovered until the present day." 

When reading these thrilling events long years since, how free I 
was from any anticipation that I should yet have to stand in the 
center of Asia, amid a similar whirl of confusion and blood, organ- 
ized by that very creed, as it rose in its might to sweep the East- 
ern hemisphere of every vestige of the Gospel, and plant its 
triumphant flag on the ruins of Christianity ; that it should be my 
lot to be lost to sight for months amid the rolling clouds of the 
conflict, where Henry Havelock, victorious over Nana Sahib, 
accomplished for Oriental Christianity what Charles Martel did a 
thousand years before for the same faith, in the West ; that at 
length, emerging unscathed, I should have the high honor to be 
invited by them to render their thanks to God for their victory, on 
the last battle-field which his heroes won ; and, more wonderful 
still, that there, amid the utter military downfall of that creed and 
its chief dynasty, I should be privileged to plant the standard of 
the Cross in the land of the Sepoy, and live to see Churches 
founded and native ministers raised up from the very race who 
sought our life and labored to destroy our faith ! 

How different would the East and the West have been to-day 
had either Martel or Havelock failed! But God is great for the 



14 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

exigencies of his people, and has often, as in both these instances, 
shown that he can save by few as well as by many. I am fully of 
the opinion, and think this work will abundantly show, that Oriental 
Christianity never passed through such an emergency as that of 
1 857-8. Even worldly men, ay, the very heathen themselves, 
declared afterward that it was God alone who saved it from com- 
plete annihilation. By every law and rule of power, opportunity, 
and purpose, it must have perished had it been merely human, and 
true philosophy as well as Christian faith teaches us that it was 
only saved by the special interposition of Almighty God, its 
defender and keeper. During the long and weary months of our 
siege on the summit of Nynee Tal, the handful of villagers there 
declared that we were the last of the Christian life left in India — 
that from where we stood, to the sea on either side, our religion and 
race had been all swept away. We knew well that if this were so our 
fate was but a question of time that would soon be consummated. 

Cut off and excluded, there we stood, our anxious hearts trying 
to ponder the terrible question, Could this be so ? and if so, how 
fearful must be the result ! For we felt assured, if it were, that the 
successful effort of the India Sepoy would have found cruel imita- 
tion in Burmah, China, and Japan, and that it was possible that, at 
that hour — in those terrible days of July and August, 1857 — Chris- 
tianity might have been extinguished in the blood of its last martyrs 
on the Oriental hemisphere, and the clock of the world been put 
back for centuries. We could only turn to God, and "against 
hope believe in hope," while we ourselves " stood in jeopardy every 
hour." How serious that jeopardy was may be realized by turning 
to the map, and describing a circle around the geographical center 
of our mission at Shajehanpore, until its diameter would expand to 
three hundred miles. That area would encircle nearly the whole 
of Rohilcund, Oude, and The Doab, and would include the cities 
of Moradabad, Futtyghur, Bareilly, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Rampore, 
etc. It would represent the very heart of the great Rebellion. 
Every city, town, and village within these limits " fell," so that, with 
the exception of the handful with us at Nynee Tal, one little^ group 



OUB NARROW ESCAPE. 1 5 

that was closely hidden in a Hindoo home in Rohilcund, those in 
the " Residency " of Lucknow, and those in the intrenchments at 
Cawnpore — not a white face in all that great valley was left alive. 
Within that fearful circle on the 31st of May, 1857, were five 
American missionaries. I am the only one of the number that 
came out of the terrible vortex ; all the rest, with their wives and 
children, were ruthlessly murdered. We knew them well — Broth- 
ers Freeman, Campbell, Johnson, and M'Mullen, and their devoted 
ladies and little ones, honored and beloved missionaries of the 
American Presbyterian Church. We alone of the number are left 
alive to tell the story of the circumstances under which they suf- 
fered, and of our own wonderful escape from a similar death ! 
How well we can appreciate the victory of Christian civilization 
over heathen cruelty and purposes, as well as the amazing strides 
made by the Gospel and by education since that fearful day ! 

The reader will well remember how the world stood horrified in 
the fall of that year as mail after mail brought the tidings of cruelty 
and massacre, in which neither age nor sex was spared, and also 
with what anxiety they watched the progress of the feeble bands 
of heroes who, under such leaders as the gallant and saintly 
Havelock, fought their dreadful way to our rescue, too late to 
save even one at Cawnpore, but in time to rescue us and those at 
Lucknow. 

The intervention of the civil war in this country necessarily for 
the time turned away attention from the horrors which were fourteen 
thousand miles distant ; but the public interest in this subject has 
not ceased, nor will the story of the " Sepoy Rebellion " ever be 
forgotten while men admire and honor heroic sufferings, Anglo- 
Saxon pluck, and sublime Christian courage, exhibited against the 
most fearful odds and in the face of certain death, in the center of 
a whole continent of raging foes, while the Prince of the powers of 
the air marshaled the hosts of hell to annihilate the religion of the 
Son of God. Doubtless " the rulers of the darkness of this world " 
had more interest and part in that fearful struggle than was taken 
by the poor, ignorant Sepoy or his crafty priest. It was earth 



1 6 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and hell combined. No other theory can account for its char- 
acter. Of this the reader will judge for himself from the facts 
presented. 

Fourteen years have passed since closed that great " wrestling 
with flesh and blood, with principalities and powers, and wicked 
spirits in high places." Eight of those years were spent by the 
writer amid the scenes of 1857-8, giving him occasion to verify 
and examine the facts where they transpired, and correct his judg- 
ment by as good an opportunity as could be desired. I feel the 
responsibility to see that such facts shall not drop into oblivion. 
They should not be allowed to die, especially associated as they 
are with the history of the Methodist Church in India, whose foun- 
dations were laid in such " troublous times." 

It will assist the reader's attention, and promote a more ade- 
quate understanding of our subject, to introduce to him at this 
point the people of whom we are speaking, and also unfold some- 
what their character and peculiar civilization. The wood-cuts are 
mostly from photographs brought from India, and of course are 
faithful representations of the various classes as they appear there, 
The first group are Hindoos, as they sit round a Brahmin to listen 
to the reading of the Vedas. 

The Hindoos constitute the great majority of the Empire, and 
are of the same Caucasian race as ourselves. Their ancestors 
moved southward from their original home more than three thou- 
sand years ago, and occupied the Valley of Scinde, probably on the 
west bank of the Indus, while only Afghanistan and Persia lay 
between them and the cradle of the race. There, in that valley, 
their most ancient Vedas were written — manifestly so from the local 
allusions — and from thence at a later period they migrated into the 
richer Valley of the Ganges, driving before them the aborigines of 
India, who sought shelter in the jungles and mountains, where 
their descendants are found to-day. The Hindoos have long 
ceased to be a warlike people. The rich land which they con- 
quered, its fertility, the abundance and cheapness of the means 
of life, and their inclination to indolence, which a warm climate 



H 




MOHAMMEDAN INVASION. 19 

fosters, have all been promotive of the effeminacy into which they 
have so generally sunk. 

Their separation into castes and classes have tended to individ- 
ualism, and to an utter indifference to politics or the public good ; 
so that you seek in vain for what we call patriotism or love of 
country. The Hindoo, as a general fact, cares not who rules the 
land if only he is allowed to cultivate his fields and eat his rice in 
peace. If left to himself, the last thing he would have thought of 
would have been rebellion ; indeed, the Hindoos, as a people, did 
not rebel. They looked on in astonishment, and left the whole 
affair to be carried on and fought out by the Sepoys and the Bud- 
maskes (the thieves and vagabonds) of the cities. 

In every respect they are a contrast to the Mohammedans among 
them. No tendency to amalgamation with them has ever been 
developed. They regard them as aliens and oppressors, and are 
even thankful that they are no longer under their control. 

About eight hundred years ago there came pouring down into India 
from the countries of the North-west a hardy, large-boned, intoler- 
ant race of men, made up of various nations, who had heard of the 
" barbaric pearl and gold " of Hindustan, and who panted to extend 
over its ■wide realms their religion and rule. Before this Moham- 
medan invasion the Hindoo race succumbed, though the strangers 
were not one seventh of their number. But they were a unit ; and, 
taking the Hindoo nations in detail, they conquered. Then, filling 
the positions of trust and the offices of Government with their own 
creatures, and as far as they could making a monopoly of education, 
they continued to compensate for deficiency of numbers by a poli- 
tic use of their opportunities, and left the Hindoo to till the soil 
and pay the yearly tribute which they had laid upon him. The usual 
alternative of the Mohammedan conquerors — conformity to their 
creed or grinding taxation, or even death — had to be foregone in 
this instance, as its attempted enforcement over a people so much 
more numerot s would have been too much for even Hindoo patience, 
and have ended probably in the extermination of their iconoclastic 
conquerors. The distinctive characteristics of each are religiously 



20 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

kept up. One of them is in the fastening of the outer garment. 
On meeting either party, though the dress is much the same, you 
at once distinguish the Mohammedan from the Hindoo by the uni- 
versal fact that the latter has his tunic made to button on the right 
side, while the Mohammedan hooks his on the left. There is about 
I he Mohammedan a fierce, haughty aspect, which he takes no 
trouble to conceal. He cannot forget that he had ruled In India 
for seven hundred years, until the hated English came and broke 
the rod of his strength, and he is all the more disposed to show his 
bitterness of spirit because the Hindoo race, with the exception of 
a few Brahmins, hailed the change with sincere gladness, and can 
now set him at defiance. It was on this fact that Englishmen 
relied for the perpetuity of their rule ; and on it they might have 
depended for long centuries to come, had it not been for a combi- 
nation of peculiar circumstances which existed in 1857, and which 
will be detailed in their place. 

Taking individual portraits, for the sake of more distinctness, I 
here present a Brahmin, as the acknowledged head of Hindoo 
society, and an associate of the most exclusive and singular of all 
earthly orders. 

The man here introduced holds himself to be a member of the 
most ancient aristocracy upon the earth. His dignity is one 
entirely independent of landed possessions, wealth, or manorial 
halls. Indeed, these have nothing whatever to do with it. The 
man may have literally no home, and not be worth five dollars of 
worldly property ; he may have to solicit his next meal of food 
from those who respect his order ; but he is a Brahmijt, and is 
prouder of that simple string over his shoulder and across his 
naked breast than any English Earl is of his coronet. These men 
laugh at such a mushroom aristocracy as that of Britain or France, 
created merely by the breath of a human Sovereign, whose word 
raises the plebeian to the noble order ; for the Brahmin holds that 
his nobility is not an accident, but is in the highest sense *' by the 
grace of God." It is in his nature, in his blood, by the original 
intention and act of his Creator. He was made and designed bv 




A Brahmin. 



ORIGIN OF CASTE. 23 

God to be different from and higher than all other men, and that 
from the first to last of time. 

How they hate that republican Christianity which declaies that 
" God hath made of one blood all nations of men," and that Gospel 
equality which announces that saints " are one in Christ Jesus," 
and that, having " all one Father," " all we are brethren " in a 
blessed communion, where no lofty pretensions or imprescriptable 
rights are allowed to any, but he that would be greatest must be 
the servant of all. 

I have seen a person of this class, on approaching a low-caste 
man, wave his right hand superciliously thirty yards before they 
could meet, and so send him off to the other side of the road. The 
poor despised man meekly bowed and obeyed the haughty inti- 
mation. No sacerdotal tyranny has ever been so relentlessly and 
scornfully enforced as that of the Brahminical rule, and none 
has been such an unmitigated curse to the nation where it was 
exercised. 

Caste is an institution peculiarly Brahminical. The Sanscrit 
word is varna, which denotes color — probably the ancient distinc- 
tion between the Hindoo invaders and the aborigines. Caste, from 
the Portuguese casta, a breed, exactly expresses the Brahminical 
idea. Their account of its origin, abridged from the Institutes of 
MeniL, the oldest system of law extant save the Pentateuch, is as 
follows : 

" In order to preserve the universe, Brahma caused the Brahmivi 
to proceed from his mouth, the Kshatriya to proceed from his arm, 
the Vaisya to proceed from his thigh, and the Siidra to proceed from 
his foot. And Brahma directed that the duties of the Brahmins 
should be reading and teaching the Veda ; sacrificing, and assisting 
others to sacrifice ; giving alms if they be rich, and receiving alms 
if they be poor. And Brahma directed that the duties of the 
Kshstriyas should be to defend the people, to give alms, to sacri- 
fice, to read the Veda, and to keep their passions under control. 
And he directed that the duties of the Vaisyas should be to keep 
herds of cattle, to give alms, to read the Shasters, to carry on 



24 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

trade, to lend money at interest, and to cultivate land. And he 
directed that the Sudra should serve all the three mentioned castes, 
namely, the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, and the Vaisyas, and that 
he should not depreciate nor make light of them. Since the Brah- 
min sprang from the mouth, which is the most excellent part of 
Brahma, and since he is the first-born and possesses the Veda, he 
is by right the chief of the whole creation. Him Brahma pro- 
duced from his own mouth, that he might perform holy rites ; that 
he might present ghee to the gods, and cakes of rice to the Pitris, 
or progenitors of mankind." — Code of Hindoo Lazv, I, pp. %^, 94. 

The Bhagvat Geeta, their most sublime treatise, repeats the same 
arrangement, and makes their observance a condition of salvation 
and moral perfection. Each class had thus a separate creation, 
constituting it, in fact, a distinct species, involving a denial of the 
doctrine that " God hath made of one blood all men." The 
Hindoos thus reject our common humanity, and hold it to be 
heresy to believe that all men are fellow-creatures, scouting the 
idea that we should " honor all men," or " love our neighbors as 
ourselves." 

Brahmin is a derivative from Brahin, the Deity, and signifies a 
Theologist or Divine. The caste is analogous to the tribe of Levi 
under the Mosaic economy, but without the family of Aaron. All 
the benefits of the Hindoo religion belong to this class, and the 
code secured to them rights, honors, and immunities that no other 
order could claim, so that their persons were to be considered 
sacred and inviolate, and they could not be held amenable to the 
penalties of law even for the worst of crimes. The intention of the 
legislator was, that from this learned class alone the nation was to 
take its astronomers, lawyers, prime ministers, judges, philosophers, 
as well as priests. They were to hold the highest offices, and to be 
supreme. The Brahmin is invested with that sacred string of 
three cotton strands, and the ceremony is called regeneration, and 
gives the Brahmin his claim to the title of the " twice born." For 
him, and for him alone, has the law-giver laid down in detail the 
duties of life, even to his devotions. Each morning he may be 



BRAHMINIGAL PRAYING. 27 

seen, as here represented, on the banks of the Ganges or other 
"holy" stream. 

Any thing more singular and whimsical than the forms pre- 
scribed for him were never enjoined upon humanity as religious 
ritual. In illustration of this, from a paper in the "Asiatic 
Researches," by Mr. Colebrook, as quoted by Dr. Duff, we ask the 
reader's attention to the following extract. Speaking of the duties 
of morning worship, one of which is the religious ablution, as here 
represented, "the Sacred Books" strictly enjoin as follows : 

" He may bathe with water drawn from a well, from a fountain, 
or from the basin of a cataract ; but he should prefer water which 
lies above ground — choosing a stream rather than stagnant water, 
a river in preference to a small brook, a holy stream before a 
vulgar river, and above all the water of the Ganges. If the 
Ganges be beyond his reach he should invoke that holy river, 
saying, ' O, Gunga, hear my prayers ! for my sake be included in 
this small quantity of water with the other sacred streams.' Then, 
standing in the water, he must hallow his intended performance by 
the inaudible recitation of certain sacred texts. Next, sipping 
water and sprinkling some before him, the worshiper throws 
water eight times on the crown of his head, on the earth, toward 
the sky ; again toward the sky, on the earth, on the crown of his 
head ; and lastly on the ground, to destroy the demons who wage 
war with the gods. During the performance of this aci of ablu- 
tion he must be reciting these prayers : ' O waters ! since ye afford 
delight, grant us present happiness and the rapturous sight of the 
Supreme Being. Like tender mothers, make us here partakers of 
your most auspicious essence. We become contented with your 
essence, with which ye satisfy the universe. Waters, grant it to 
us.' Immediately after this first ablution he should sip water with- 
out swallowing it, silently praying. These ceremonies and prayers 
bemg concluded, he plunges thrice into the water, each time repeat- 
ing the prescribed expiatory texts. 

" He then meditates in the deepest silence. During this moment 
of intense devotion he is striving to realize that ' Brahma, with four 



28 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

faces and a red complexion, resides in nis bosom ; Vishnu, with 
four arms and a black complexion, in his heart ; and Shiva, with 
five faces and a white complexion, in his forehead ! ' To this sub- 
lime meditation succeeds a suppression of the breath, which is thus 
performed : Closing the left nostril with the two longest fingers of 
his right hand, he draws his breath through the right nostril ; and 
then, closing that nostril likewise with his thumb, he holds his breath, 
while he internally repeats to himself the Gayatri, the mysterious 
names of the three worlds, the triliteral monosyllable, and the 
sacred text of Brahma ; last of all, he raises both fingers off the left 
nostril, and emits the breath he had suppressed through the right 
This process being repeated three several times, he must next 
make three ablutions, with the following prayer : ' As the tired man 
leaves drops of sweat at the foot of a tree ; as he who bathes is 
cleansed from all foulness ; as an oblation is sanctified by holy 
grass, so may this water purify me from sin.' He must next fill 
the palm of his hand with water, and, presenting it to his nose, 
inhale the fluid by one nostril, and, retaining it for a while, exhale 
it through the other, and throw away the water to the north-east 
quarter. This is considered as an internal ablution which washes 
away sin. He then concludes by sipping water with the following 
prayer : ' Water ! thou dost penetrate all beings ; thou dost reach 
the deep recesses of the mountains ; thou art the mouth of the 
universe ; thou art sacrifice ; thou art the mystic word vasha ; 
thou art light, taste, and the immortal fluid.' " 

After a variety of genuflections and prayers, of which these are 
but a mere sample, he concludes his devotions by worshiping the 
rising sun. The veneration in which the Brahmin is to be held 
by all classes, the privileges which he is to enjoy, his occupations 
and modes of life, are laid down with wonderful minuteness in this 
Code of Hindoo Law. A mere sample of his assumptions, under 
the head of Veneration, will suffice : " The Brahmin is entitled to 
the whole of the universe by the right of primogeniture. He pos- 
sesses the Veda, and is alone permitted to teach the laws. By his 
sacrifices and imprecations he could destroy a Rajah in a moment, 



PREROGATIVES OF THE BRAHMINS. 2g 

together with all his troops, elephants, horses, and chariots In 
his wrath he could frame new worlds, with new gods and new 
mortals. A man who barely assaulted a Brahmin, with the inten- 
tion of hurting him, would be whirled about for a century in the 
hell termed Tamasa. He who smote a Brahmin with only a blade 
of grass, would be born an inferior quadruped during twenty-one 
transmigrations. But he who should shed the blood of a Brahmin, 
save in battle, would be mangled by animals in his next birth for 
as many years as there were particles of dust rolled up by the 
blood shed. If a Sudra (a low-caste man) sat upon the same seat 
with a Brahmin, he was to be gashed in the part offending." — 
Institutes of Menu, I, 94, etc. 

Thus a body of men, supposed to number not more than a few 
hundred thousand, have held the two hundred millions of their 
fellow-countrymen for thirty centuries in the terrors of this sacer- 
dotal legislation, enforcing its claims to the last limit of endurance, 
though at the fearful price of the utter ignorance, degradation, and 
slavery of their nation. The reader can well appreciate che indig- 
nant feelings with which this greedy, proud, and supercilious order 
of men contemplated the incoming of a Christian Government, 
which would make all men " equal before the law," and the advent 
of a Religion whose great glory it is to vindicate the oppressed and 
" preach the Gospel to the poor." 

The Kshatriya caste (derived from Kshetra, land) and the Vais- 
yas (traders) had the privilege of the investiture with the sacred 
string ; but to the Sudras there was to be no investiture, no sacri- 
fice, and no Scriptures, They were condemned by this law to perpet- 
ual servitude. Yet this class, with the Outcasts, were necessarily 
the great majority of the nation, and those who might have been 
their instructors and guides, heartlessly took away the key of 
knowledge, made it a legal crime to "teach them how sin might be 
expiated," and deliberately degraded them for time and eternity. 
The Vedas expressly state that the benefits of the Hindoo religion 
are open only to three of the four castes ! The fourth-caste man 

could have no share in religion and hold no property. He was a 
3 



30 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Tjondsman, and that forever. No system of human slavery ever 
equaled this ; for it was intense, unalterable, and unending, by the 
act of God himself. 

The distinctions of society, by the ordinances of the Hindoo 
Lawgiver, were thus indicated : Brahmins, or Priests ; Kshatriyas, 
or Soldiers and Rajahs ; Vaisyas, or Merchants and Farmers ; 
Sudras, the servile class. 

The arrangements indicate a pastoral condition of society, far 
removed from the stirring scenes of the life of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. The ordinances made no preparation for the wider wants of 
men or intercommunication of other nations, or the development 
of our race. They had no provision for manufacturing, mining, or 
commercial life, but expected the world to move on forever in their 
limited conservative methods. These four castes were subdivided, 
according to the theory, into sixty-four, and in the grooves thus 
opened the divisions of labor were expected to run, so that even 
trade should become hereditary ; and thus, whatever the genius or 
ability developed in any man, he was expected to be content to 
remain in the profession of his father. He might have the germ 
and the buddings of a mmd like Newton's, but, according to " their 
cast-iron rules of social life, if his father made shoes he too must 
stick to the last." 

No man of one caste can eat, smoke, marry with, or touch the cook- 
ing-vessels of a person of another caste. The prohibition is fear- 
fully strict, and guarded with terrible sanctions. And it is as des- 
titute of humanity as it is singular ; so that, were a stranger of their 
own nation, coming into one of their towns, to be taken suddenly 
ill, and unable to speak and explain of what caste he was, he would 
certainly be liable to perish, for the high-caste people would be 
afraid to touch him, lest they should break their caste, and those of 
the low-caste would be unwilling, lest their contact (on the suppo- 
sition of his superior order) might irrecoverably contaminate him. 
In their hands the man would perish unaided. 

This unique masterpiece of Brahminism was intended by its 
framers to be a wall of brass around their system, to secure its unal- 



BRAHMINIGAL INVESTITURE. 31 

terable permanency. But, its own heartless selfishness and cruel 
tendencies had so far overdone the work that it was found practi- 
cally impossible to sustain the integrity of the arrangements. Inno- 
vations crept in and conflicts ensued, and, despite the desperate 
efforts of the Brahmins, confusion has marred Menu's strange 
designs, while the introduction of Western civilization, the teach- 
ings of Christianity, and the light of true knowledge, have delivered 
such severe and repeated shocks that the venerable and hideous 
monstrosity is tottering to its final fall. 

Four Stages of Life are marked out by Menu for the Brahmin : 
I. The BrahntacJiari, or Studentship of the Veda ; 2. The GriJias- 
tha, or Married State ; 3, The Vanaprastha, or Hermit Life ; 4. The 
Sannyasi, or Devotee Condition. ' 

The Brahmachari stage begins with the investiture of the sacred 
thread, which act signifies " a second birth." The investiture takes 
place in his eighth year in case of a Brahmin, the eleventh year 
for a Kshatriya, and the twelfth for a Vaisya. The investiture 
introduces the " twice-born " Brahmin boy to a religious life, and is 
supposed to sanctify him for the study of the Veda. 

The thread of the Brahmin is made of cotton and formed of 
three strings ; that of the Kshatriya is made of hemp, and that of 
the Vaisya is of wool. It is termed the " sacrificial cord," because 
it entitles the wearer to the privilege of sacrifice and religious 
services. Certain ceremonies are observed for girls as well as for 
boys, but neither girls nor women are invested with the sacred 
thread nor the utterance of the sacred mantras. They have con- 
sequently no right to sacrifice. Indeed, the nuptial ceremony is 
considered to be for woman equivalent to the investiture of the 
thread, and is the commencement of the religious life of the 
female, {Menu, II, 66, 67.) So that, a lady remaining unmarried, 
has nothing equivalent to their " second birth " here, and can look 
forward to no certainty of a happy life hereafter. The poor Sudra 
is entirely excluded. Thus, the Servile Man and the unmarried 
woman of any, even the highest, caste are equally left outside the 
pale of Brahmjnical salvation — exactly that condition to which 



32 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

High-Church Puseyism consigns all " Dissenters " when they hand 
them over to "the uncovenanted mercies of God." 

In addition to the exclusion of woman and the lower caste, this 
terrible Code proceeds to sink still deeper vast multitudes of their 
fellow-creatures. The " Outcasts " are numbered by the million. 
Some of these are called " Chandalas," and concerning them this 
heartless and cruel Lawgiver ordains : " Chandalas must dwell 
without the town. Their sole wealth must be dogs and asses ; their 
clothes must consist of the mantles of deceased persons ; their 
dishes must be broken pots, and their ornaments must consist of 
rusty iron. No one who regards his duties must hold any inter- 
course with them, and they must marry only among themselves. 
By day they may roam about for the purposes of work, and be dis- 
tinguished by the badges of the Rajah ; and they must carry out 
the corpse of any one who dies without kindred. They should 
always be employed to slay those who are sentenced by the laws to 
be put to death ; and they may take the clothes of the slain, their 
beds, and their ornaments." — Code, X, 51-58. 

Can the Western reader wonder that, tame and subdued though 
the Asiatics may be, these aristocratic ordinances should have 
proved too much for human nature, or that the introduction of 
English rule and fair play, elevating these long-crushed millions to 
legal equality with these proud Brahmins, was an immense mercy 
to nearly one sixth of the human family "> 

As a sample of how this sacerdotal law, framed for his special 
glorification, discriminated in favor of the Brahmin, it may suffice 
to quote a sentence or two. On the question of his privileges when 
called to testify in a Court of Justice, he must be assumed to be 
the "very soul of honor," and his oath, without exposure to pen- 
alty, was to be held sufficient. The Code decreed that " A Brah- 
min was to swear by his veracity ; a Kshatriya by his weapons, 
horse, or elephant ; and a Vaisya by his kine, grain, or gold ; but 
a Sudra was to imprecate upon his own head the guilt of every 
possible crime if he did not speak the truth." — VIII, 113. "To 
a Brahmin the Judge should say, ' Declare ;' to a Kshatriya he 



DISCRIMINATIONS IN THE BEAHMIN'S FAVOR. 33 

should say, ' Declare the truth ;' to the Vaisya he should compare 
perjury to the crime of stealing kine, grain, or gold ; to the Sudra 
he should compare perjury to every crime in the following lan- 
guage : ' Whatever places of torture have been prepared for the 
murderer of a Brahmin, for the murderer of a woman, or child, 
have also been ordained for that witness who gives false evidence. 
If you deviate from the truth you shall go naked, shorn, and blind, 
and be tormented with hunger and thirst, and beg food with a pot- 
sherd at the door of your enemy ; or shall tumble headlong into 
hell in utter darkness. Even if you give imperfect testimony, and 
assert a fact which you have not seen, you shall suffer pain like a 
man who eats fish and swallows the sharp bones." — Menu, VIII, 

79-95- 

The scale of punishments in the case of a Brahmin (in the few 
instances where he was at all amenable to the law it could only 
touch his property, never, under any consideration, his person) was 
equally drawn in his favor, and was all the lighter in proportion to 
the inferiority of caste of the man whom he had injured ; while, on 
the other hand, it was equally to be increased in severity (for the 
same crime in both cases) in proportion to the same distinction 
Says the law, " A Kshatriya who slandered a Brahmin was to be 
fined a hundred panas ; for the same crime a Vaisya was to be 
fined a hundred and fifty or two hundred panas ; but a Sudra was 
to be whipped." On the other hand, if a Brahmin slandered a 
Kshatriya " he was to be fined fifty panas ; if he slandered a Vaisya 
he was to be fined twenty-five panas ; but if he slandered a Sudra 
he was only to be fined twelve panas. If, however, a Sudra insulted 
any man of the twice-born castes with gross invectives, he was to 
have his tongue slit ; if he mentioned the name and caste of the 
individual with contumely, an iron style, ten fingers long, was to be 
made red-hot and thrust into his mouth ; and if, through pride, he 
dared to instruct a Brahmin respecting his duty, the Rajah was to 
order that hot oil should be poured into his mouth and ear," — 
Menu, VIII, 266-276. 

The " pana " was then nearly equal to our cent, so his privilege 



34 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

of slandering a Sudra could at any time be exercised with impunity 
for a dime, while, if it was so done unto him, the law took good care 
that the plebeian wretch should never repeat the offense, for his 
tongue was to be slit. How truly could the Almighty, whose 
name they blasphemously invoke for their outrageous legislation. 
say of them, " Are not your ways unequal .-• " 

Even in salutations the Code ordained the forms, and gave them 
a religious significance. " A Brahmin was to be asked whether 
his devotion had prospered, a Kshatriya whether he had suffered 
from his wounds, a Vaisya whether his wealth was secure, and a 
Sudra whether he was in good health." — Menu, II, 127. 

The food, the privileges, the duties, of this pampered monopolist 
are all minutely laid down in the Code, but they are too diffuse and 
too childish to place before the reader, and would not be worth the 
space occupied. In proof of this I quote one sentence from the 
fourth chapter, merely remarking that the whimsical injunctions 
are left without any rhyme or reason. They are as unaccountable 
as they are singular. " He (the Brahmin) must not gaze on the 
sun while rising or setting, or eclipsed or reflected in water ; he 
must not run while it rains ; he must not look on his own image 
in water ; when he sees the bow of Indra in the sky he must not 
show it to any man , he must not step over a string to which a 
calf is tied ; and he must not wash his feet in a pan of mixed 
metal." 

In these stages of its development and claims, Brahminism is 
nothing less than a system of supreme selfishness, and was worthy 
of the express teaching with which the Brahmin was directed, in an 
emergency, to sacrifice every thing to his own precious self, in the 
lollowing rule : " Against misfortune let him preserve his wealth ; 
at the expense of his wealth let him preserve his wife ; but let him 
at all events preserve himself, even at the hazard of his wife and 
riches." 

How little can such a religion or such a law know of disin- 
terested affection, or of that devotion which would risk every thing 
for the safety and happiness of its beloved object .-* 



THIRD STAGE OF THE BRAHMIN'S LIFE. 35 

His student life ended, the Brahmin commences his married 
existence with forms and rules which will be referred to when we 
come to speak of the condition of woman under Hindoo law. In 
this second stage of his life he is required to have " his hair and 
beard properly trimmed, his passions subdued, and his mantle 
white ; he is to carry a staff of Venu, a ewer with water in it, 
handful of Kusa grass, or a copy of the Vedas, with a pair of 
bright golden rings in his ears, ready to give instruction in the 
sacred books, or political counsel, and to administer justice." 

Then in order would come the third and fourth stages of his life, 
the rules of which are so unique. Such an amazing contrast to 
the unbounded privileges of the previous stages, and withal so 
little like what ordinary humanity would impose upon itself, thai 
we must quote them for the information of the reader. These two 
stages express the very essence of Brahminism. In the Hermit 
stage, the theory is a course of life that will mortify the passions 
and extinguish desire ; this being accomplished, the last order, or 
Devotee stage, is religious contemplation with the view to final 
beatitude. 

Menu says, "When the twice-born man has remained in the 
order of Grihastha, or householder, until his muscles become flaccid 
and his hair gray, and he sees a child of his child, let him abandon 
his household and repair to the forest, and dwell there in the order 
of Vanaprastha, or Hermit. He should be accompanied by his 
wife if she choose to attend him, but otherwise he should commit 
her to the care of his sons. He should take with him the conse- 
crated fire, and all the domestic implements for making oblations 
to fire, and there dwell in the forest, with perfect control over all 
his organs. Day by day he should perform the five sacraments. 
He should wear a black antelope's hide, or a vesture of bark, and 
bathe morning and evening ; he should suffer his nails and the 
hair of his head and beard to grow continually. He should be 
constantly engaged in reading the Veda ; he should be patient in 
all extremities ; he should be universally benevolent, and entertain 
a tender affection for all living creatures ; his mind should be ever 



36 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

intent upon the Supreme Being ; he should slide backwaid and 
forward, or stand a whole day on tiptoe, or continue in motion by 
rising and sittmg alternately ; but every day, at sunrise, at noon, 
and at sunset, he should go to the waters and bathe. In the hot 
season he should sit exposed to five fires, namely : four blazing 
around him, while the sun is burning above him. In the rainy 
season he should stand uncovered, without even a mantle, while 
the clouds pour down their heaviest showers. In the cold season 
he should wear damp vesture. He should increase the austerity 
of his devotion by degrees, until by enduring harsher and harsher 
mortifications he has dried up his bodily frame." — Code, VI, 22 ; 
Vishnu Purana, III, 9, etc. 

As regards the life to be pursued by a Sannyasi, Menu lays 
down the following directions : 

" When a Brahmin has thus lived in the forest during the third 
portion of his life as a Vanaprastha, he should for the fourth por- 
tion of it become a Sannyasi, and abandon all sensual affections, 
and repose wholly in the Supreme Spirit. The glory of that 
Brahmin who passes from the order of Grihastha to that of San- 
nyasi illuminates the higher worlds. He should take an earthen 
water-pot, dwell at the roots of large trees, wear coarse vesture, 
abide in total solitude, and exhibit a perfect equanimity toward all 
creatures. He should wish neither for death nor for life, but 
expect his appointed time, as a hired servant expects his wages. 
He should look down as he advances his foot, lest he should touch 
any thing impure. He should drink water that has been purified 
by straining through a cloth, lest he hurt an insect. He should 
bear a reproachful' speech with patience, and speak reproachfully to 
no man ; and he should never utter a word relating to vain, illusory 
things. He should delight in meditating upon the Supreme Spirit, 
and sit fixed in such meditation, without needing any thing earthly, 
without one sensual desire, and without any companion but his 
own soul. 

" He should only ask for food once a day, and that should be in 
the evening, when the smoke of the kitchen fires has ceased, when 



LAST STAGE OF A BRAHMIN'S LIFE. 37 

the pestle lies motionless, and the burning charcoal is extinguished ; 
when people have eaten, and when dishes are removed. If he fail 
to obtain food he should not be sorrowful ; if he succeed in obtain- 
ing it he should not be glad. He should only care to obtain a suf- 
ficiency to support life, and he should not be anxious about his 
utensils." 

As to the character of his thoughts : " A Sannyasi should reflect 
on the transmigrations of men, which are caused by their sinful deeds ; 
on their downfall into a region of darkness, and their torments in 
the mansions of Yama, (the God of the dead ;) on their separation 
from those whom they love, and their union with those whom they 
hate ; on their strength being overpowered by old age, and their 
bodies racked with disease ; on their agonizing departure from this 
corporeal frame, and their formation again in the womb ; on the 
misery attached to embodied spirits from a violation of their duties, 
and the imperishable bliss which attaches to embodied spirits who 
have abundantly performed every duty. 

" The body is a mansion, with bones for its rafters and beams, 
with nerves and tendons for cords, with muscles and blood for 
mortar, with skin for its outward covering, and filled with no sweet 
perfumes, but loaded with refuse. It is a mansion infested by age 
and by sorrow, the seat of diseases, harassed by pains, haunted with 
the quality of darkness, and incapable of standing long. Such a 
mansion of the vital soul should always be quitted with cheerful- 
ness by its occupier." — Institutes of Hindoo Law, VI, 76, yy. 

When you look around and inquire for these self-denying re- 
cluses, with their sublime superiority to the things of earth and the 
wants and wishes of the human heart, you will not find them ; cer- 
tainly not among the Brahmins. Few of these have ever adopted 
in reality a life so like that of the Yogee, or Self-torturer. All 
testimony goes to show that Menu's ordinances for the third and 
fourth stages of the Brahmin's life have lain in his law-book with 
not one Brahmin in ten thousand even commencing to make them 
a reality of human experience. It was too much for humanity, and 
could only be embraced by some fanatic of a Fakir, who would 



38 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

voluntarily assume such a condition for self-righteous and self 
glorifying ends. Such men can and will do, for such reasons, what 
other men have not nerve enough to adventure merely in obedience 
to the theoretic rules of their order. 

The Brahmins would fain be regarded as the learned class' of 
India. Of course there was a time when, in the earlier ages of 
the world, they were so, as compared to men in other nations. 
No scholar can doubt this for a moment. But the world and 
education are no longer what they once were ; both have advanced 
amazingly, while the Brahmin has not only stood still, but he 
has retrograded. The ruins of India's colleges, observatories, 
and scientific instruments, especially in Benares, (once "the eye 
of Hindustan,") convince the traveler too painfully of this fact. 
Even there, in that renowned city, there is not a single public 
building devoted to, or containing, the treasures of India's arts, 
sciences, or literature ; no paintings, sculptures, or libraries ; no 
colleges of learning, no museums of her curiosities ; no monuments 
of her great men ; only beastly idolatry, filthy fakirs, shrines of 
vileness without number, and festivals of saturnalian license, all 
sustained and illustrated by a selfish and ignorant Brahminhood. 
Their learning is in the past, and little remains save their great 
Epics and the magnificent dead Language in which they were writ- 
ten. Their chronology is a wild and exaggerated falsehood, their 
geography and astronomy are subjects of ridicule to every school- 
boy, their astrology (to which they are specially devoted) a humbug 
for deluding their countrymen ; they had no true history till 
foreigners wrote it for them, and could not even read the Pali on 
their own public monuments till such Englishmen as Princeps and 
Tytler deciphered it. Native education to-day owes more to 
Macaulay, Dr. Duff, and Trevelyan, than to all the Brahmins of 
India for the past five hundred years. Every improvement intro- 
duced, and every mitigation of the miseries in the lot of woman, 
and of the lower and suffering classes, has been introduced aganist 
their will and without their aid as a class. They feel, they know, 
that their system is more or less efiete ; that they are being left 




A Lady of India in Full Dress. 



BRAHMimSM A DEAD FAILURE. 41 

behind in the march of improvement on which their country has 
entered. But there they stand, scowHng and twirling their Brah- 
minical string ; while the Sudras and the very " Chandalas," whom 
they tried so hard to doom to eternal degradation, are obtaining in 
Government and Missionary schools a sanctified scholarship, which 
is soon to consign the claims and pretensions of this venerable, 
haughty, and heartless aristocracy to the everlasting contempt 
which they deserve ! One by one, in their ridiculous helplessness, 
they behold their strong places taken and wrested from their 
grasp. The very Ved$. in which they gloried, and behind which 
they falsely defended the vileness and cruelty of their system, has 
been magnificently collated and published in eight volumes by 
the scholarship of Max Miiller, and then rendered, with equal 
ability, (the last volume having been published within the past 
five years,) into English by Wilson & Cowell. So that all the 
world may now know what the Veda is, and what it teaches, and 
thus hold these unworthy guardians of it to the fearful responsi- 
bility which they have incurred, in pretending to quote its authority 
for the abominations which characterize their modern Hindooism, 
with all its grievous wrongs against woman in particular, and 
against the interests of their own nation, as well as its violation of 
the common sense and judgment of mankind, for whose opinions, 
however, the Brahmins of India never showed the least respect 

We now turn from them to introduce the reader to one of the 
ladies of the land. 

The opposite picture is from a photograph for which this lady, 
Zahore Begum, of Seereenugger, consented to sit. As her face 
had to be seen by the artist, the concession was a very singular 
one for any lady of her race. It was done to gratify the Queen of 
England, who, on the assumption of the direct sovereignty of India 
— on the abolition of the East India Company in 1859 — requested 
that photographs of the people, and their various races, trades, and 
professions, might be taken and sent to her. Her Majesty gra- 
ciously consented to have her valuable collection copied, and by 
the courtesy of Captain Meadows Taylor, the Oriental author, the 



42 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

writer obtained copies of this and several others of much value, 
which will appear in these pages. 

My readers have, therefore, before them a faithful picture of a 
Hindoo lady of the highest rank, as she appears in her Zenana 
home, under the best circumstances, having made herself as attract- 
ive as silk, and muslin, and cashmere cloth, and a profusion of 
jewelry, can render her. In the jewel on the thumb of the left 
hand there is inserted a small looking-glass, of which the fair lady 
makes good use. The usual gold ring, strung with pearls, is in her 
nose, lying against her left cheek ; and her forehead, ears, arms, 
fingers, ankles, and toes are crowded with jewelry and tinkling 
ornaments, the sounds of which proclaim her presence and ap- 
proach always. 

The wood-cut does no justice to her warm olive color, many of 
them being even almost fair. Most of them have a figure of great 
beauty, and a natural elegance of movement which their drapery 
and rich clothing well become. But the mind is totally neglected. 
In fact, until lately, when a gleam of light has begun to shine for 
women in the Land of the Veda, it might be said, without qualifica- 
tion, that no part of an American definition of education would 
apply to the culture under which a daughter of India is fitted for 
future life. It does not, for her, include reading, or writing, or his- 
tory, or science, or aught else which we include in its meaning. 
Education, in its proper sense, is denied to the females of India ; 
denied on principle, and for reasons which are unblushingly avowed, 
and all of which are reflections upon her womanly nature — one of 
them being the position that education in the hands of a woman 
would most likely become an instrument of evil power. She is 
deliberately doomed by modern Hindooism to a life of ignorance 
because she is a woman. 

We have mentioned the present dawn of a better day. It is but 
the dawn. Dr. Mullen's statistics tell us that already there are 
now thirty-nine thousand six hundred and forty-seven women and 
girls receiving an education in the Zenana schools in India. The 
number is by this time larger and still increasing. Yet it is but 




The Nautch Girl of India. 



THE LADIES OF INDIA. 45 

the commencement ; for the above number, dividing the one hun- 
dred miUions of women in India, gives but one in two thousand 
five hundred and twenty-two who are receiving instruction, a num- 
ber equal only to what this country would have to-day were but 
one American lady in five hundred and four blessed with education. 
What need is there, then, to urge on the glorious toil of rescuing 
India's daughters from the intellectual abominations which desolate 
their soul and mind in this fearful manner ! 

The sad story of the wrongs of woman in India will be told after 
we have traced the rise and fall of the great Rebellion ; for the 
mitigations of her condition, which , Christian law had in mercy 
enforced, were then put forward by her Brahminical oppressors as 
one of the reasons why they had renounced their allegiance to 
British rule. 

But there is one class of women, and it is a very large class, in 
India, who are under no such restrictions and jealous seclusion as 
the lady on the former page. These court publicity, and you can 
see them every-where. This order of females are released from 
the doom of an illiterate mind. They can read, write, and quote 
the poets, and jest with the conundrums and "wise saws" of the 
land. The writer has known of attempts made by this class of 
girls to enter our schools in order to add the English tongue to 
their acquisitions, to be used by them for the worst of purposes. 
These are the " Nauch Girls," a portrait of one of whom, from a 
photograph, is here given as she appears in public. 

Their title means dancing-girls. No man in India would allow 
his wife or daughter to dance, and as to dancing with another man, 
he would forsake her forever, as a woman lost to virtue and mod- 
esty, if she were to attempt it. In their observation of white 
women, there is nothing that so much perplexes them as the fact 
that fathers and husbands will permit their wives and daughters to 
indulge in promiscuous dancing. No argument will convince them 
that the act is such as a virtuous female should practice, or that its 
tendency is not licentious. The prevalence of the practice in 

"Christian" nations makes our holy religion — which they suppose 
4 



46 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

must allow it — to be abhorred by many of them, and often it is cast 
in the teeth of our missionaries when preaching to them. But 
what would these heathen say could they enter our operas and 
theaters, and see tl?e shocking exposure of their persons which our 
public women there present before mixed assemblies ? Yet they 
would be ten times more astonished that ladies of virtue and repu- 
tation should be found there, accompanied by their daughtcs, to 
witness the sight, and that, too, in the presence of the othei sex ! 
But, then, they are only heathens, and don't appreciate the high 
accomplishments of Christian civilization ! Still, Heaven grant that 
the future Church of India may ever retain at least this item of the 
prejudices of their forefathers ! Dancing forms, then, no part of a 
daughter's education in India, and it probably never will, that is, 
unless they become corrupted by "Christian" example. 

All of that sort of thing that they ever desire, on occasions of 
festivals and ceremonies, they hire from the temples and bazaars. 
Four or five of these women, tricked out in all their finery and 
jewelry, and tinkling ornaments on arms, necks, and feet, will, for 
four or five dollars, dance and jest, and sing India's licentious songs 
for hours ; but even they don't dance except with their own sex. 
They are prostitutes, and yet they are undoubtedly the only intel- 
ligent and cultivated class of Hindoo women. So that the profane 
and debased have a monopoly of education, while the virtuous and 
retiring ladies of the land are condemned to a life of ignorance. 
Such is woman in India as to her mind. 

Until within a few years this fearful barrier to woman's educa- 
tion stood sternly across the path of the missionary. A change, in 
the great mercy of Heaven, is dawning at last even upon India ; 
but as recently as ten years ago, when you spoke to a Hindoo 
father about educating his daughter, the ideas that are here clearly 
enough intimated at once presented themselves to his mind, and 
your proposal seemed to him to be almost profane, as he thought 
" Would you make my daughter a Nauch girl .? " The Temple of 
Knowledge, with its sacred flame, no longer guarded by the Vestal 
Virgins, seemed resigned absolutely to the control and occupation 




The Maharajah Duleep Singh. 



THE NAUCH GIELS. ^ 49 

of those polluted beings, whose profession and blandishments are 
exerted to 

" Make vice pleasing and damnation shine," 

but whose guests are in the depths of hell. 

We next present to the reader one of the upper class of Hindoo 
society just as he would appear at a " Durbar," or State ceremonial, 
or in receiving guests at his palace, or in connection with some 
public display. 

The dress of a gentleman in India is regulated as to its quality 
by his wealth and position, and in its variations of form by his 
creed and locaUty ; but the Maharajah costume here shown may 
be regarded generally as that of his countrymen. 

Their dress is free and flowing, adapted to the climate, and 
leaving to the limbs a greater freedom of action, with more circula- 
tion of air, than the American style of dress can ever know. Al- 
though to our imagination it appears somewhat effeminate in its 
aspect, yet it is eminently graceful and becoming to the wearers, 
as any one who has seen a company of Hindoo gentlemen together 
will have observed. There is something so conservative and bib- 
Heal in the aspect of it, that you feel at once that the fluctuations 
of the fashions can have no influence upon it. Here is something 
that is at once suitable and unchanging — a style of comfort and 
elegance which the past five hundred years has not varied, and 
which will probably remain unaltered when five hundred more 
years have passed away. 

The dress here represented shows a vest of " Kinkob " — cloth of 
gold — slightly exposed at the breast ; a loose-fitting coat falling 
below the knees, made of rich yellow satin from the looms of 
Delhi, bordered with gold embroidery ; a Cashmere shawl of greal 
value encircles the loins, and the usual "Kummerbund" binds all to 
the waist of the wearer. The turban is made of several yards of 
fine India muslin, twisted round the head, heavily adorned with 
chains of pearls, and aigrettes of diamonds and precious stones. 
These, with the pearls encircling his neck, are of large size and 
extraordinary beauty and value, the heir-looms of many generations. 



50 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

He holds by his side his State sword, the hilt of which is studded 
with precious stones. To all this " glory " might have been added 
the matchless Koh-i-noor diamond, for this prince was the heir 
of "The Mountain Light," his father, the Maharajah Runjeet 
Singh, having been its last possessor ; but the great diamond was 
sent as a present to Queen Victoria, and he himself is handsome 
and happy enough without it. 

How significant of the resources of India is the fact that every 
article on the person of this princely man, from the gold and gems 
on his head to the embroidered slippers on his feet, is the produc- 
tion of his own country, and all of native manufacture ! How 
quietly in this respect he outshines the Broadway " exquisite " or 
Parisian belle, whose finery must be sought for in a score of climes 
and imported from many lands ! 

The Maharajah is considered one of the handsomest of his coun- 
trymen. The excellent wood-cut here representing him does not, 
however, do justice to his black, lustrous eyes, or his finely formed 
features and intelligent look. 

The education of the gentlemen of India is sadly deficient. 
Conducted in the Zenana, among ladies ignorant of the most 
elementary knowledge, their mental training and acquisitions are 
usually of the most superficial sort, and destitute of healthful stim- 
ulus. But the gentleman here represented is one of the exceptions 
to this rule ; and as he has had the moral courage to separate him- 
self from heathenism and receive the Christian faith, the reader 
may be pleased with some further notice of him. 

He is the first royal person in India who has become a follower 
of Jesus Christ. His highness is the son and heir of the Maha- 
rajah Runjeet Singh, who, from the ferocity and valor with which 
he conducted his wars and ruled his people, was called " The Lion 
of the Punjab." The old gentleman's policy left his nation in con- 
fusion, and the English power, in the wars that resulted, found his 
forces to be the sturdiest foe with whom they had ever measured 
swords in India. Runjeet died in 1839, ^"^^ ^'is son, this Duleep 
Singh, then only four years old, was placed upon the throne. His 



THE MAHAMAJAH'S CONVEMSION. 5 1 

uncles ruled in his name, but the ten years which followed were 
times of anarchy and bloodshed, the Regents being assassinated in 
succession, and the country one vast camp. The army superseded 
the civil power, and in their folly actually crossed the frontier, and 
in 1845 invaded British India. They were repulsed, but only to 
renew the effort four years later, when they were overthrown, and 
the Punjab — the country of the five rivers, as the word means, 
the rivers named in Alexander's invasion, and which unite to form 
the Indus at Attock — was annexed to the British Empire. The 
young Maharajah was pensioned, and placed for education under 
the care of the Government, God mercifully guided the Governor- 
general in the selection of guardian and tutor for the little prince. 
Dr. (now Sir John) Logan, of the medical service, and a member 
of the Presbyterian Church, was appointed his guardian, and Mr. 
Guise, of the civil service, Avas selected as his tutor. To Mr. 
Guise's other high qualifications for his duties was added a beau- 
tiful Christian character. He had need of all his fitness, for the 
little ex-king had never been used to any restraint, much less to 
study or to books, and claimed the right to run wild and neglect 
all mental acquisitions. But the patience and conscientiousness 
of the faithful tutor overcame every difficulty ; good habits and a 
taste for reading were at length formed. Their home was at Fut- 
tyghur, on the Ganges, where the American Presbyterian Church 
has a Mission, (the missionaries being mentioned by name on a 
previous page,) in which many young men were receiving a Chris- 
tian education. The prince expressed a desire to have some one 
of good birth and talents for a companion, and a young Brahmin, 
by name Bhajan Lai, who had been educated in the mission-school, 
and had there, though unconverted, contracted a love for the Chris- 
tian Scriptures, was chosen for the position. He soon enjoyed the 
entire confidence of the young Maharajah. Bhajan was in the habit 
of studying the Bible in his leisure moments, and the prince two or 
three times having come upon him thus engaged, was led to inquire 
what book it was that so interested him. He was told, and at his 
request Bhajan promised to read and explain the Word of God to 



52 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

him, but on condition that it should not be known. The priests 
of his own rehgion that had accompanied him from the Punjab, 
and were training him in the tenets of their faith, were soon seen 
by him in a new light as he continued to read the Scriptures. 
When he began to compare them, in all their mummery, immorahty, 
and covetousness, with the purity and spirituality of the Christians 
around him, whose lives and examples he had carefully noted, a 
feeling of disgust with heathenism, and a preference and love for 
the religion of the Bible, sprang up in his heart, to which he soon 
gave expression. Thus the reading of God's holy Word, taught 
and explained even by a heathen youth and Brahmin, led the 
Maharajah to give up idolatry, and to express a desire to break his 
caste and be baptized. 

The priests were amazed and confounded, and offered what 
resistance they could. But the guardianship of the prince effect- 
ually shielded him from all persecution. Yet, as he was so young, 
and the step contemplated so important, his guardian, though 
rejoiced at his purpose, and ready to aid it in every proper way, 
suggested delay till he could more fully study the religion of Jesus 
and act with fuller deliberation. He accepted the advice, drew 
nearer to the missionaries, attended the services, and enjoyed the 
association of the Christians. He was led to embrace Christ as 
his Saviour, and on the 8th of March, 1853, was baptized and 
received into the Christian Church. The Rev. W, J. Jay, the 
chaplain of the station, administered the holy ordinance in the 
presence of all the missionaries, the native Christians and Europe- 
ans at the station, and the servants of the Maharajah. He was 
clad as here represented, and when he took off his turban, and 
with much firmness and humility bowed his head to receive the 
sacred ordinance, every heart in the assembly was moved, and 
many a prayer went up that he might have grace to fulfill his vows 
and honor his Christian profession. 

He has faithfully done so to the present time. Immediately 
after his baptism he established relief societies at Futtyghur and 
Lahore, placing them under the control of the American missions 



SETTLES IN ENGLAND. 53 

at both places. Besides assisting in the support of the missions, 
he estabhshed, and still sustains, a number of village schools for 
the education of the people, and has been a liberal contributor to 
every good object brought to his notice. When the writer was at 
Futtyghur he had the opportunity of witnessing the results which 
were being accomplished by the Christian liberality of the Maha- 
rajah in and around that station. He was then aiding the cause of 
Christ and the poor to the extent, probably, of fully one tenth of his 
whole income annually, and I presume his liberality is no less now. 

Some time after his baptism, with a desire to improve his mind 
by foreign travel, he visited England. He took with him a devoted 
Christian, who had formerly been a Hindoo Pundit, named Nil 
Knath, by whose instructions he was more fully established in the 
doctrines of the Gospel, and with whom he enjoyed daily prayer and 
other religious privileges. On his arrival in London the Government 
placed a suitable residence in Wimbledon at his disposal, and the 
Queen and Prince Albert showed him much attention and kindness. 

The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 distressed him exceedingly, and 
probably alienated him from his native land. His entire severance 
from the religion of his countrymen, and, most of all, probably, 
reasons of State in view of the English rule in his country, which 
he would not wish by his presence there to disturb in any way, led 
him to prefer England as a residence. A magnificent home has 
been provided for him near London, and there, on the allowance 
of his rank paid yearly by the British Government, he is spending 
the present portion of his life, honored and respected by all around 
him. He has probably ere now come to the conclusion that the 
loss of the throne of the Punjab may have been for him a good 
providence. During the rebellion his life might have been sacri- 
ficed. In the peace and honor that surround him he is not only 
entirely free from the evil influences of an Oriental court, and the 
distractions of irresponsible government, but he may reflect, judg- 
ing the present from the past, that, had he remained and reigned, 
he might very probably, like his uncles and predecessors, have met 
a violent death. 



'54 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Gentlemen in other lands having the means and leisure of the 
higher classes of Hindoo society would be cultivating their minds, 
enlarging and enriching the literature of their times by theii 
authorship, by foreign travel, by collections of books and works of 
art, and institutions for developing the resources of their great 
country. But there are no authors in India, no libiaries in its 
homes ; not one in a thousand of its aristocracy ever saw the out- 
side of his native land. Learned societies, museums, or fruits of 
genius are not to be found there. Education, when acquired, is 
restricted mostly to the mere ability of reading and writing and 
talking in courtly style, while there are multitudes of wealthy men 
that cannot do that much ; nay, there are even kings without the 
power to write their own names, who can give validity to State 
documents only by stamping them with " the signet on their right 
hand." The sovereign of the Punjab — father of the Maharajah 
here represented — was one such. He was unable to write or read 
his own name, and to the day of his death could not tell one figure 
from another. 

The little information of general news which they acquired from 
time to time had been obtained by a singular arrangement. Each 
great family, or king's court, had its " editor." He was expected to 
furnish the news daily, or as often as he could. So he collected 
from any source within his reach, and got his newspaper ready. 
But he had no press, nor type, nor office, nor newsboy to aid him. 
He simply enters on his broad sheet, in writing, one after another, 
all the news or gossip he could collect, until his paragraphs fill his 
pages, and he sallies forth in the morning to circulate the news, 
commencing with the members of the household, and thence to 
the servants, and so on to the neighbors, reading for each circle 
the news he had previously collected and written out, and receiv- 
ing his fees from each company as he goes round the neighborhood. 
Of express trains, telegraphs, associated press, pictorial papers, 
and all our Christian appliances for collecting and distributing the 
news of the wide world, he is utterly ignorant. But the poor editor 
is on a par with the education of his patrons, 2nd he can rest 



HABITS OF THE INDIA ABISTOGEACY. 55 

assured they are not likely to outstrip him in the race for knowl- 
edge. And so it goes on from generation to generation, until now, 
when this wonderful innovator, Christianity, has walked right into 
the midst of this venerable ignorance, and, to the horror of these 
editorial oracles, has lifted many even of the Pariah youth of their 
bazaars to a plane of education and knowledge up to which millions 
look with amazement as they wonder what is going to happen 
now, when boys " whose fathers they would have disdained to set 
with the dogs in their flocks " are actually becoming possessed of 
an education which even their Pundits do not enjoy ! 

The habits of the India aristocracy are in many respects de- 
cidedly peculiar. The residence, for instance, is usually very 
mean, as compared with the wealth of the parties. While they 
will spend millions upon a temple or tomb, they are content to 
dwell in a house which a man in America, with one fiftieth of 
their income, would scorn to inhabit. A Rajah with a rent-roll 
of say fifty thousand dollars or more per annum will sometimes 
pass his life in a residence built of sun-dried brick, with a tiled 
roof, that cost less than two thousand dollars, surrounded on all 
sides with mud hovels, and in the midst of a bazaar where the 
din and smoke and effluvia would be intolerable to any decent 
American. 

No doubt this want of appreciation of surrounding circumstances 
in their life is caused by their inability while heathens justly or 
truly to estimate that idea of home which Christianity has created 
for man, especially in the " honorable estate " of the married life 
which she ordains and blesses, and to which she leads the grate- 
ful, loving husband to bring his means and ingenuity to adorn it, 
to make it a convenient, cheerful, happy dwelling for the blessed 
wife whom he loves and the dear children whom God has given 
them. Such a home, with its joy and honor, the heathen or polyg- 
amist can never know or appreciate. His residence is but a con- 
venience, not the sanctuary of the affections, and his estimate of 
home must be, and is, defective and perverted. 

They eschew furniture, in our sense of the word — tables, chairs. 



56 THE T.AXTt OF THE VEUA. 

knives and forks. They eat with the fingers alone, and generally 
sleep on a charpoy or mat When you enter a Hindoo home you 
are at once struck with the naked look of the room — no chair or 
sofa to sit upon, no pictures on the walls, no piano or musical 
instrument, no library of books, no maps, no table with the newspa- 
per or periodical or album upon it, and you wonder how they can 
bear to live such a hfe ; to you it would be a miser)'" and a blank. 
But you are a Christian, and your holy religion has made }"0u to 
differ, and taught you the nature and value of a Christian home 
and its conveniences and joys. 

Nothing would more surprise them in visiting our Western 
world than to see how generally, according to the abilit}" of each, 
we beautiiy and adorn our residences, and surround them with 
flowers and verdure and neatness. They would think this all very 
artificial, and perhaps unnecessar}*, and could not enter into the 
feelings of those whose constant effort seems to be to make their 
abode on earth, in its purity, companionship, and peace, a tv^pe of 
the home in heaven. 

Woman alone in heathenism, e\en where she has possessed 
peculiar wealth and power and opportimit}' for the effort, cannot 
make this earthly paradise ; she requires Christianity to be success- 
ful Cases have occurred where European ladies have been induced 
— in Delhi, Lucknow, etc. — to enter even royal zenanas as wives. 
But though knowing the difference, and probably fondly hoping they 
could by their presence and ability constitute a happy social state, 
they soon realized that the ver\' atmosphere forbid the development 
of the home they hoped to cultivate, and the fair experimenters 
had, in utter despair, to abandon their efforts and their hopes, and 
not only so, but themselves to sink to the sad level of the heathen- 
ish commimit)'- into which they had ventured ! 

" Home is tLe sacred refuge of our life." 

True, but India's sons can never learn the sentiment and experi- 
ence which Dry^den's line thus expresses till the daughters of India 
receive the Christianity' which alone can cultivate their minds and 



CHRI8TIANITT ALONE CREATES HOME. S7 

hearts, and take under its divine guardianship their sacred mission 
in India., as in America, to 

"Give to social man true relish of himself." 

The men of India have never known woman's high power as '"a 
helpmeet " in mind, heart, social life, or usefulness, and until they 
do they cannot enjoy the blessed home which only honored and 
elevated women can create. 

If there be any one thing, short of salvation, in which America 
and India contrast each other most vividly, it is woman's high posi- 
tion in her home, and man's consequent happiness resulting there- 
from — as wife, living for the husband whom she loves ; as mother, 
making her abode a nursery for the Eden on high ; the friend and 
patron of all that is lovely, virtuous, and of good report ; her plas- 
tic influence of mind and heart and character molding those within 
her sphere into sympathy with her own goodness, while she thus 
sweetly 

•' Allures to brighter worlds, and leads the way." 

In presence of this excellence — and, thank Heaven ! Christianity 
has thousands such — every thing beautiful on earth brightens. 
The holiest and happiest men in this world bask in this blessed 
social sunshine, and are led by it to the contemplation and earnest 
hope of those " better things " which it typifies ; their sanctified 
domestic joy becoming a sign and promise of the felicity that will 
be endless when they come to realize at last what they so often 
sing below — 

"My heavenly home is bright and fair." 

The food and manner of eating is quite Oriental, with the pecul- 
iarity on the part of the stricter Brahminical caste that they never 
touch flesh of any kind ; but the rich variety of fruits and vegeta- 
bles, and other products of the field and garden, with milk, butter, 
etc., enables them to enjoy a full variety. The favorite dish of 
India is the "curry," and natives and foreigners alike seem to 
agree that it is the king of all dishes. If it was not the " savory 
meat " that Isaac loved, the latter was probably very like it ; but 



58 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

the dish itself is never equal, in piquancy and aroma, out of India 
to what you receive there. The eating is done without the aid of 
knives or forks, the fingers alone being used. This is the mode 
for all, no matter how high or wealthy. The writer saw the 
Emperor of Delhi take his food in this way. When they have fin- 
ished, a servant lays down a brass basin before them and pours 
water on their hands, and presents a towel to wipe them, remind- 
ing one of Elisha " pouring water on the hands of Elijah," acting 
as his attendant in honor of the man of God, 

The amusements of the India aristocracy are very limited. The 
enervation of the climate may have something to do with this, but 
it is probably more due to a want of that developed manliness and 
self-assertion which belongs only to a higher civilization. Thi;y 
hardly ever think of ,going out hunting, or fishing, or fowling. Of 
the chase they know nothing, and I presume there is not one 
base-ball club in the country ; gymnastic exercises they never take, 
their music is barbarous, and they do not play. When a feast or 
marriage requires entertainment they hire professional musicians, 
dancers, jugglers, or players to perform before their guests, but 
take no part whatever personally. Operas and theaters and pro- 
miscuous dancing they hold in abhorrence, as too immoral for them 
or their families to witness. They are fond of formal calls upon 
their equals, or social and civil superiors, and like display and 
exhibitions of their standing and wealth. They are regularly 
scientific in the art of taking their ease, being bathed and sham- 
pooed, fanned to sleep and while asleep. They love to be deco- 
rated with dress and jewelry, enjoy frequent siestas, and divide the 
remainder of their leisure time in the society of women whom they 
choose to entertain in their zenanas ; but of public spirit and 
efforts, disinterested devotion to the welfare of others, intellectual 
enjoyments, the culture and training of their children's minds or 
morals, or the exalting influence of communion with a refined and 
intelhgent wife or mother, they know but little or nothing, because 
they are utter strangers to the inspiration of the holy religion 
whose fruits these joys and virtues are. 



THEIB VISITS OF GEBEMONY. 59 

When they undertake to pay a visit of ceremony it is, to our 
views, very singular what form and punctiliousness they deem to 
be indispensable. The whole establishment seems turned out for 
the purpose, for the larger the "following" so much the more 
you are expected to be impressed with the standing and dig- 
nity of the great man who has come to honor you with his call. 
An outrunner or two reaches your door in advance, and announces 
the master's approach ; then come an armed squad, and his conii- 
dential servant, or " vakeel," and behind them the great man him- 
self on his elephant, or in his palanquin ; another crowd of retain- 
ers bring up the rear, the whole train numbering from thirty to 
sixty persons, or even more. Often, as I have looked at them, 
have I been reminded of the figure in the Revelations, where the 
blessed dead are represented as accompanied on their way into the 
kingdom of heaven by the escort of the good deeds of their faithful 
lives, which rise up to accompany them as so many evidences of 
their devotion to God — " Their works do follow them." The inter- 
view is merely a ceremony. The lady of the house is not expected 
to make her appearance ; but where the visit is to a missionary 
family the lady generally does show herself, and, joining in the 
conversation, watches the opportunity to say a word for the truth 
of the Gospel. The native gentleman is evidently amazed, though 
he conceals it as well as he can, at her intelligence and her self- 
possession in the presence of another man than her husband, so 
unlike the prejudices that fill his mind about the female members 
of his own household. No doubt, amazing are the descriptions he 
carries home of what he has seen and heard on such an occasion. 

But it is in connection with " dtirbars" governmental levees and 
marriage festivals, that the whole force of the native passion for 
parade and ostentation develops itself As a sample : At the dur- 
bar some time ago in the Punjab, Diahn Singh, one of the nobles, 
came mounted on a large Persian horse, which curveted and 
pranced about as though proud of his rider. The bridle and sad- 
dle were covered with gold embroidery, and underneath was a 
saddle-cloth of silver tissue, with a broad fringe of the same mate- 



6o THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

rial, which nearly covered the animal. The legs and tail of the 
horse were dyed red — the former up to the knees, and the latter 
half-way to the haunches — an emblem, well understood b} the 
crowd, of the number of enemies which this military chief was 
supposed to have killed in battle, and that their blood had covered 
his horse thus far. The chief himself was dressed with the 
utmost magnificence, loaded with jewels, which hung, row upon 
row, round his neck, in his turban, on the hilt of his sword and 
dagger, and over his dress generally, while a bright cuirass shone 
resplendent on his breast. Add to this a face and person hand- 
some and majestic, and you have the man as he delighted to be 
seen on the occasion. 

But even this was outdone a few months ago on the occasion of 
the visit of one of Queen Victoria's sons, the Duke of Edinburgh, 
to India. A part of the pageant was the procession of elephants. 
These animals, one hundred and seventy in number, and the 
finest in size and appearance in India, were each decorated in the 
richest housings, and ridden by the Nawabs and Rajahs who 
owned them, each trying hard to outvie the other. Perhaps the 
Maharajah of Putteallah carried off the palm. The housings of his 
immense elephant were of such extraordinary richness that they 
were covered with gold and jewels. The Maharajah, who rode on 
him, wore a robe of black satin embroidered with pearls and emer- 
alds. The howdah — seat on the elephant's back — in which the 
Rajah of Kuppoorthullah sat, was roofed with a triple dome made 
of solid silver. 

This passion of ostentation and show breaks over all bounds <,n 
the occasion of their marriage ceremonies, and is permitted to know 
no limit but their means, nor sometimes even that. Sleeman nar- 
rates of the Rajah of Bullubghur — whom the writer saw in such 
different circumstances twenty years after these events, on trial for 
his life in the Dewanee Khass of Delhi, in 1857, as will be described 
hereafter — that on the occasion of his marriage in 1838 the young 
chief mustered a cortege of sixty elephants and ten thousand fol- 
lowers to attend him. He was accompanied by the chiefs of 



MARBIAGE EXPENSE. 63 

Ludora and Putteallah, with forty more elephants, and five thou- 
sand people. 

It was considered necessary to the dignity of the occasion that 
the bridegroom's party should expend at least six hundred thou- 
sand rupees — ^300,000 gold — during the festival. A large part of 
this sum was to be distributed freely in the procession ; so it was 
loaded on elephants, and persons were appointed to fling it among 
the crowds as the cavalcade passed on its way. They scattered 
copper money all along the road from their home till within seven 
miles of Bullubghur. From this point to the gate of the fort they 
scattered silver, and from the gate of the fort to the door of the 
palace they scattered gold and jewels. The son of the Putteallah 
chief, a lad of about ten years, had the post of honor in the 
distribution. He sat on his elephant, and beside him was a bag 
of gold mohurs — each mohur is worth eight dollars gold — 
mixed up with an immense variety of gold ear-rings, pearls, and 
precious stones. His turn for scattering began as they neared the 
palace door. Seeing some European gentlemen, who had come to 
look at the procession, standing on the balcony, the little chief 
thought they should have their share, so he heaved up vigorously 
several handfuls of the pearls, mohurs, and jewels, as he passed 
them. Not one of them, of course, would condescend to stoop to 
take up any, but the servants in attendance upon them showed no 
such dignified forbearance. 

The costs of the family of the bride are always much greater 
than that of the bridegroom. They are obliged to entertain, at 
their own expense, all the bridegroom's guests which go with him 
for his bride, as well as their own, as long as they remain. 

From this running description of the superficial, self-glorifying, 
and aimless lives which these men follow, the reader may easily 
imagine what must be the condition of their minds, their morals, 
and their characters. 

The Mohammedans, a picture of whom we present here, are a 
moie energetic people than the Hindoos. Their aspect is haughty 
and intolerant, and in meeting them you are under no liability to 



64 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

mistake them for the milder race whom they have so long crushed 
down and ruled. They are descended from original Asiatics of 
Persia. Arabia, etc., while the Hindoos are of western stock. 

" The natives of India attach far more weight to form and cere- 
mony than do Europeans. It is considered highly disrespectful to 
use the left hand in salutation or in eating, or, in fact, on any other 
occasion when it can be avoided. To remove the turban is disre- 
spectful ; and still more so not to put off the shoes on entering a 
strange house. Natives, when they make calls, never rise to go till 
they are dismissed, which among Mohammedans is done by giving 
betel and sprinkling rose essence, and with Hindoos by hanging 
wreaths of flowers around the visitor's neck, at least on great occa- 
sions. Discourteous Englishmen are apt to cut short a long visit 
hy sdiying Ab j'ao — 'Now go!' than which nothing can be more 
offensive. The best way is to say, ' Come and see me again soon,' 
or, ' Always make a practice of visiting my house,' which will be 
speedily understood. Or to one much inferior you may say, 
Rnkksat lena — ' Leave to go,' or, better, Rukhsat lijiye — ' Please to 
take leave.' A letter closed by moistening the wafer or the gum 
with the saliva of the mouth should not be given to a native. The 
feet must not be put upon a chair occupied by them, nor must the 
feet be raised so as to present the soles to them. One must avoid 
touching them as much as possible, especially their beards, which 
is a gross insult. If it can be avoided, it is better not to give a 
native three of any thing. Inquiries are never made after the 
female relations of a man. If they are mentioned at all it must be 
as 'house.' 'Is your house well.''' that is, 'Is your wife well.''' 
There are innumerable observances to avoid the evil eye ; and 
many expressions seemingly contradictory are adopted for this pur- 
pose. Thus, instead of our ' Take away,' it is proper to say, ' Set 
on more ;' and for ' I heard you were sick,' ' I heard your enemies 
were sick.' With Mohammedans of rank it is better not to express 
admiration of any thing they possess, as they will certainly offer it; 
in case of acceptance they would expect something of more value 
in return. To approach a Hindoo of high caste while at his meal is 



MANNERS OF THE HINDOOS. 6S 

to deprive him of his dinner ; to drink out of his cup may deprive 
him of his caste, or seriously compromise him with his caste-fellows. 
Leather is an abomination to Hindoos ; as is every thing made from 
the pig, as a riding-saddle, to the Moslem. When natives of a 
different rank are present you must be careful not to allow those 
to sit whose rank does not entitle them, and to give each his 
proper place." — Murray's Handbook. 

Such are the people of that land toward whom for ages the atten- 
tion of outside nations has been directed with so much interest. 
We will now consider briefly their composition and numbers, and 
some of those singular chronological, historical, and religious views 
which they have entertained so tenaciously, and so long. 



66 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



CHAPTER II. 

STATISTICS, MYTHOLOGY, AND VEDIC LITERATURE. 

EVEN arnong educated men there is a very inadequate idea 
of what India really is. It is spoken of as though it were 
one country, with one language and one race of men, just as per- 
sons would speak of England or France ; whereas India ought to 
be regarded as a number of nations, speaking twenty-three differ- 
ent languages, and devoted to various faiths and forms of civilization. 

During the long period from the time of William the Conqueror 
till Clive fought the battle of Plassey in 1756, the Hindoos and 
Mohammedans maintained their diversity, and were as far from 
any unity or amalgamation when England entered the country, as 
they were when Mahmoud of Ghizni conquered Delhi. While the 
nations of Europe tended to unity, and fused their tribes and clans 
into homogeneous people, who gloried in a common faith and father- 
land, these millions of hostile men have retained the sharp outlines 
of race, religion, language, and nationality as distinctly as ever. 

The diversity of race is shown in the Coles, the Jats, the San- 
thals, the Tartars, the Shanars, the Mairs, the Karens, the Affghans, 
the Paharees, the Bheels ; in religion, we have the Mohammedans, 
the Hindoos, the Buddhists, the Jains, the Parsees, the Pagans, and 
the Christians. While in nationality, there are the Bengalese, the 
Rohillas, the Burmans, the Mahrattas, the Seikhs, the Telugoos, 
the Karens, and many others. 

India is thus, in fact, a congregation of nations, a crowd of 
civilizations, customs, languages, and types of humanity, thrown 
together, with no tendency to homogeneity, until an external civili- 
zation and a foreign faith shall make unity and common interest 
possible by educating and Christianizing them. 

In regard to the real numbers of these wonderful people we are 



CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF INDIA. 67 

now able, from a census taken by the English Government last 
year, and also from Missionary Reports and other authorities, to 
furnish reliable civil and religious statistics of the Indian Empire. 
A few items are approximations, but they come as near to accuracy 
as is now necessary. India has an area of 1,577,698 square miles. 
It is nearly 2,000 miles from North to South, and 1,900 miles from 
East to West. The country is divided into 221 British Districts, 
and 153 Feudator}. States, with a population of 212,671,621 
souls. 

The average density of this population to the square mile is 135 
persons. But in Oude and Rohilcund (the mission field of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church) the density is 474 and 361 respect- 
ively, and is therefore probably the most compact population in the 
world. England has 367, and the United States only 26, persons 
to the square mile. As to race, this vast multitude of men are 
divided as follows : 

The English army 58,000 

Europeans and Americans (civil, mercantile, and missionary life). . 89,585 

Eurasians (the mixed races) 40,789 

Asiatics 212,483,247 

In religion the native population are distributed, as nearly as we 
can approximate them, into 

Parsees (followers of Zoroaster) 150,000 

Jains (Heterodox Buddhists) 400,000 

Syrian and Armenian Christians 140,000 

Protestants (attendants on Worship) 350,000 

Roman Catholics (attendants on Worship) 760,000* 

Karens (in British Burmah) 500,000 

Seikhs (in the Punjab) 2,000,000 

Buddhists (in British Burmah and Ceylon) 3,280,000 

Aborigines, and undefined 1 1,000,000 

Mohammedans 30,000,000 

Hindoos 165,000,000 

* The Roman Catholic Bishop of Madras in 1869 estimated the whole number of 
native Romanists in their communion at 760,623, supervised by the Bishops, and 734 
priests, in addition to 124,000 with 128 priests under the jurisdiction of the almost 
schismatic and Portuguese Archbishop of Goa. But Dr. George Smith, one of the 
highest authorities on India statistics, regards these figures as unworthy of trust, and 
sets down the numbers for both as not over 700,000. — Friend of India, May 10, 1871, 
P- 554- 



68 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

There are a few Jews, Chinese, Portuguese, French, Armenians, 
Nestorians, and others m the country, but of these we make no 
account here. 

The vastness of this wonderful country may be further ilhistrated 
by the amnzing number of languages spoken throughout its wide 
extent ; and these are living languages, separate and distinct from 
each other, so that even the characters of their alphabets have no 
more similarity than the Greek letter has to the Roman, Nor do 
I include dialects of tongues, or languages of limited and local use, 
but those which are well known and extensively employed. Of 
such there are not less than twenty-three spoken in the various 
provinces of India. They are 

I. The Urdu, (the Hindustanee proper,) the French of India, the 
language of the Mohammedans, of trade, etc. ; spoken in Oude and 
Rohilcund, the Doab, and by traders generally ; 2. The Bengalee, 
spoken in Bengal and eastward ; 3. The Hindee, used in Oude, 
Rohilcund, Rajpootana, Bundlecund, and Malwa by the agricultural 
Hindoos, etc. ; 4. The Punjabee, in the great Indus valley ; 5. The 
Pushtoo, in Peshawar and the far West ; 6. The Sindhee, in the 
Cis-Sutlej States and Sinde ; 7. The Guzerattee, in Guzerat, and 
by the Paisees ; 8. The Ctitchee, in Cutch ; 9. The Cashmerian, in 
Cashmere; 10. The Nepaulese, in Nepaul ; 11. The Bhote, in 
Bootan ; 12. The Assamese, in Assam ; 13, 14. The Burmese and 
Karen, in Burmah and Pegu; 15. The Singhalese, in Ceylon; 
16. The Malayalim, in Travencore and Cochin; 17. The Tamtd, 
from Madras to Cape Comorin ; 1 8. The Canarese, in Mysore and 
Coorg ; 19. The Teloogoo, in Hydrabad, and thence to the East 
Shore ; 20. The Oorya, in Orissa ; 21. The Cole and Gond, in Berar ; 
22. The Mahratta, in Bombay, Nagpore, and Gwalior ; and 23. The 
Khassiya, in the North-east. Add the English, and there are 
twenty-four living languages extensively spoken in India to-day! 
Nor is this all: the great classics of the leading tongaes, the 
ancient and venerable Pali, the Sanscrit, the Persian, and the 
Arabic are studied and used by the scholarship of India, because 
they hold in their charge the venerable treasures of their volumi- 



GBEATNE88 OF INDIA. 69 

nous literature, and are as important to their faiths as sacred Greek 
is to Christianity. 

Compare India with Europe, leaving out Russia, and she has 
more States, languages, and people. The principal tongues of 
Europe are the English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, 
German, Russ, Polish, Turkish, Greek, Dutch, Danish, Swede, 
Norwegian, and Finn — 15. There were (according to the Census 
of 1 861) in Europe 52 States, 15 languages, and 198,014,432 people ; 
but, in India, there are 374 States, 23 languages, and 212,483,247 
people. Giving India more States, more languages, and more pop- 
ulation than all the great Western nations combined ! 

To understand what India is, and what was the force and impor- 
tance of her great Sepoy Rebellion, and what is likely to be her 
relation to Christianity, and to the magnificent future which awaits 
her Hemisphere, the reader needs to understand and bear these 
facts in mind. 

Of course, such a people are not destitute of national conceit. 
Indeed, the Hindoos hold up their heads with a sovereign sense 
of superiority above all other people on the earth. Admit their 
claims, and their system of chronology, and the assumptions of 
their history, and all other nations must hang their heads as mod- 
ern novelties, and bow down in humility in the presence of a civili- 
zation of divine origin and a venerable aristocracy that counts its 
life and honors by millions of years ! No Hindoo doubts but that 
his country is, or has been, the fount of all the blessings which have 
spread over the world, and in this rich conceit they hold it as a 
maxim that 

" Min-as-shark talata ba kudrat ar-rahman, 
Anwar-ud-din wa al-ilm, wa al-umran." 



That is. 



" From the East, by the power of the Merciful One, 
Lights of Science, Religion, and Culture have shone." 



The name India is apparently derived from the river Indus, and 
may have originated in the fact that that river divided this then 
unknown land from Persia and the world of ancient classical litera- 
ture. The country is called in Sanscrit Bharatkund, from a 



70 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

dynasty of ancient kings ; Punya Dhunna, " The Holy Land," and 
also Djain-bhu-dwip, the " Peninsula of the Tree of Life." 

The trade of India is immense. The Imports are cotton cloth, 
jewelry, watches, stationery, hardware, metalS; salt, silk, books, 
woolens, American ice, bullion, etc., etc. ; and the Exports are coflee, 
tea, raw cotton, (in 1861 to England alone 3,295,000 cwt., producmg 
there ^47,500,000,) indigo, opium, ($50,000,000 annually,) saltpeter, 
jute, seeds, sugar, wool, (23,432,689 lbs. in 1865,) rice, raw silk, 
ivory, lac, oils, etc. The balance of trade is in favor of India, and 
the difference has to be paid in cash ; so that the specie of England, 
Germany, and America is drained off to the East, and wealthy 
India grows richer all the time on a foreign commerce which has 
now risen to $577,000,000 (gold) per annum. The -tonnage is at 
present 4,268,666 tons, and the revenue $249,646,040, which is 
only about $118 per head — an easier rate of taxation than is levied 
upon its people by any other civilized Government, while the pro- 
portion of the revenue spent on the Administration itself is equally 
economical. Deduct the annual charges for roads and bridges, 
police, jails, and courts of justice, education, canals, reservoirs, and 
irrigation, army, navy, telegraphs, public works, interest on Gov- 
ernment securities, and it seems remarkable that the scanty 
remainder could meet all the charges of the Administration. The 
Hindoos well know that they were never so well and so cheaply 
governed as they are now. Their own testimony to this fact will 
be presented further on. If it were not for the extent to which the 
cultivated land is almost exclusively made to bear the burden, with 
its uncertain tenure, (though this is the practice in most Oriental 
Governments,) and the growth and sale of that vile opium, there 
would be little now to rebuke in the government of British India. 
Yet none are more earnest than some of the English themselves 
for the abolition of this reproach upon their fair fame. 

There are seven railroads now running in different parts of the 
country, with an entire extent of 4,039 miles, and the total traffic 
receipts of which for the week ending April 22, 1871, was 
;^I40,220 iij. 4^., or $701,102, gold. Other lines are in process 



ENGLISH EMPIRE. 7 1 

of construction. The telegraphs, 14,000 miles long, run all through 
India, while roads as feeders to the railways are being made over 
the land. But all has been done or furthered by the Government, 
and the whole has been accomplished during the past fifteen years. 

The wealth of India has been proverbial since the time of Solo- 
mon, who imported therefrom his " ivory, apes, and peacocks.' It 
has also seemed to be inexhaustible. From the earliest antiquity, 
the merchants of Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt sought to 
enrich themselves by her commerce ; and when Europe awoke from 
her sleep of ages, and entered upon her career of improvement, her 
first efforts were directed toward gaining a share of the trade of 
the East. England, at length, entered the field, and soon out- 
stripped all her rivals, Dutch, Portuguese, and French. Agreeably 
to the policy of the times, the East India Company was chartered 
by Queen Elizabeth, and vested with the monopoly of the com- 
merce of the East. And advancing by a steady progress, this giant 
Company, under the patronage of the Imperial power, at length 
held and governed, or protected, all that immense region. 

A leading American journal very justly remarked on this sub- 
ject, at the time of the great Sepoy Rebellion, that "the achieve- 
ments by which these stupendous results have been effected are 
among the marvelous realities of history, compared with which the 
tales of romance are tame and spiritless. In future times they 
will, perhaps, constitute the most deeply-interesting portion of the 
history of our age. We believe that in the present troubles the 
cause of Great Britain, notwithstanding the many and grave abuses 
which have been practiced or tolerated by the East India Com- 
pany, is nevertheless the cause of humanity and Christian civiliza- 
tion. It is this fact, no doubt, which has awakened no small share 
of the fierce invectives against the proceedings of the English in 
India. For a long time that region has been the field of an exten- 
sive and successful missionary enterprise, to which the British 
rulers have extended, at least, a protection from Hindoo and Mos- 
lem violence, and so afforded an opportunity for the free exercise 
of Christian philanthropy. This is, doubtless, the head and front 



72 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

of their offending in the minds of many of those who are loudest 
in their outcries against British cruelty and reckless ambition. We 
are very far from approving all that has been done by British 
agents in India, but we are equally clearly convinced that it is 
much more for their good deeds than their faults that they are 
most intensely disliked." 

Any man who has resided in India, and known the condition of 
the people and the actions of that Government in regard to them, 
and the encouragement extended to efforts for the welfare of the 
natives, especially of late years, will be prepared to accept these 
words as a fair, and yet generous, statement of the situation. The 
position of England in India was a very peculiar one, and, in all 
candor, should be clearly understood before forming an opinion 
upon the merits of the case. For instance, in India there is no 
such thing as patriotism, no capability of self-government. If the 
English rule were withdrawn to-morrow, the last thing the natives 
would think of would be to unite and form a general Govern- 
ment. Each Rajah and Nawab would simply set up for himself, 
hold all he had, and take all he was able to seize. Then would 
begin a renewal of those religious and national contentions 
which form such a sad part of India's history, and the bloody 
exercise of which Britain terminated when she took control of 
the country, ever since holding the peace between those hostile 
elements. 

The natives, especially the more military races, caring little for 
love of country, are willing to fight for compensation, and to serve 
any master ; so they were found very ready to wear the livery of 
England, to bear her weapons, and receive her pay. These men 
were called " Sepoys," (the Hindustanee for soldier,) each regimen I 
being officered by English gentlemen. By degrees this force rose 
up to be an immense power, so that in 1856, there were two hun- 
dred thousand of them, constituting the regular Sepoy army, 
besides as many more called " Contingents," maintained by native 
courts under treaty, having English officers in command. Then 
there were the armed police ; making altogether a force of about 



VALUE OF INDIA TO ENQLAND. 73 

four hundred thousand trained men, with the best weapons of 
England in their hands. 

The total of British troops in all India in 1856 was not much 
over forty thousand, and they were scattered on the frontier and in 
a few of the leading cities, seldom more than one regiment in a 
place, and sometimes only half a regiment. 

By degrees the Sepoy army, especially that of Bengal, became 
what might be called " a close service," a high caste Brahminical 
force, to whose notions constant concessions were made by the 
Government. They were a fine body of men, invincible to any 
thing in the East so long as they were led by their English offi- 
cers, these officers and their ladies and children being afterward 
the first victims of the Rebellion. The Sepoys were utterly unedu- 
cated, as superstitious as they were ignorant, and entirely under 
the control of their Fakirs and Priests. This weak-minded and 
fanatical body of men had won for England her Oriental empire, 
and she chiefly relied on them for its defense and preservation. 
She could well do so, as long as they were faithful to her rule, but 
not a day longer. By degrees her poHcy changed, and, instead of 
maintaining a mixed army of all castes and creeds and nationali- 
ties, the " Bengal Army," as it was called, grew more and more 
Brahminical, united, and fanatical. 

It has been asked. Why did not England let India go when she 
threw off her allegiance, and free herself from the care and risk of 
governing a people who thus disdained her rule } Two answers 
may be given to this question. One would be the secular reason 
of men who valued India for what she was to England in the way 
of profit and power. Millions of British money were invested in 
the funds and reproductive works of India ; then, there was the 
vast, increasing, and lucrative market for English goods, one item 
alone of which will express its importance. The clothing of the 
Hindoo is not very voluminous, yet, what a business was it for 
Lancashire to have the right to supply cotton cloth for one sixth of 
the human family ! But, besides the merchant and the manufac- 
turer, the politician, the military and the educated man had a deep 



74 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

interest in the retention of this "brightest jewel of the British 
crown," for here was furnished the most splendid patronage that 
ever lay in the gift of a statesman. Hundreds of the cultured 
classes of England had careers of position and emolument as civil 
servants of the Government, under "covenants" that secured them 
munificent compensation, and which enabled them, when their 
legal term of service expired, to retire on pensions equal to 
about one half their splendid pay ; so that Montgomery Martin 
estimates that the money remittances to Great Britain from India 
averaged five million sterling (;^ 2 5, 000,000) per annum for the past 
sixty years. Landed property in England has been largely 
enhanced in value by the investments of fortunes, the fruit of civil, 
military, and commercial success in Hindustan. A nation con- 
trolling the resources of such a dependency, with such a noble 
field in which to elicit and educate the genius of its youth and 
display the ability of its commanders, with the profitable employ- 
ment of its mercantile shipping in the boundless imports and 
exports of such a country as India, could not lightly resign, or 
throw it away without a mighty struggle for its retention. 

But, the man who would present no further reasons than these 
for British resolution to keep India in its control, would do injus- 
tice to the better section of English society, and to many of hei 
noble representatives in the East. There is another and a better 
reason than what was measured by the pounds, shillings, and 
pence of mere worldly men, underlying the determination of 
England in this matter. The Christians of Britain hold firmly 
that, the Ruler of heaven and earth, in so wonderfully subjecting 
that great people to their rule, has done so for a higher than secu- 
lar purpose ; that he has given them a moral and evangelical mission 
to fulfill in that land for him ; and that it is their high and solemn 
duty to maintain that responsibility until, by education and Chris- 
tianity, they shall attach those millions by the tie of a common creed 
to the English throne, or fit them for assuming for themselves the 
responsibilities of self-government. For such men Montgomery 
Martin (one of their most voluminous Oriental writers) speaks 



THE HIGHER MOTIVES FOB ENGLISH RULE. 75 

when, in his last edition of his " Indian Empire," (4 vols, octavo,) 
dedicated by permission to the British Queen, he so distinctly 
declares to his Government and countrymen their high accounta- 
bility before God and man in this respect, when he asks, "On what 
principle is the future government of India to be based ? Are we 
simply to do what is right, or what seems expedient ? If the for- 
mer, we may confidently ask the Divine blessing on our efforts for 
the moral and material welfare of the people of India, and we may 
strive, by a steady course of kind and righteous dealing, to win 
their alienated affections for ourselves as individuals, and their 
respect and interest for the religion which inculcates justice, 
mercy, and humility as equally indispensable to national as to indi- 
vidual Christianity." 

Those who know India best, know that I speak the truth when 
1 assert, that these words are represented by deeds as honorable in 
the lives, and devotion to India's welfare, of many of the men who 
represent Great Britain there. I do not know a community of 
public men where you can find a greater number of " the excellent 
of the earth," than among the civil and military officers of England 
in India; men who have stood up for Jesus and for humanity, 
loving the poor, degraded race whom they ruled, and pleading, 
coiling, and giving munificently for their elevation to a better con- 
dition. Such names as Bentinck, Lawrence, Herbert Edwards, 
Havelock, Muir, Tucker, Ramsay, Gowan, Durand, and scores of 
others, amply justify this statement. The Annual Missionary 
Reports of the Methodist Episcopal Church (and this is equally true 
of the other missions as well) bear witness to this fact for manv 
years past. During that time, such was the sympathy for the 
work which we attempted, in helping them to educate and enhghten 
the people of our own mission field, that noble-hearted Englishmen 
in all stations of life, from the Governor-General down to the pri- 
vate soldier, have aided us as freely as though we were of their 
own nation or Church, so that their contributions since 1857 
will be found to aggregate over ^150,000 in gold to our mission 
alone ; while this assistance is all the time increasing, and is 



76 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

also equally extended by these good men to the missions of any 
Church or nation which goes there, and whose labors are aiming 
to elevate the benighted natives, and prepare them by education 
and a public conscience for self-government. 

The Hindoo Chronology and division of time are very singu- 
lar, and even whimsical. They hold to four great Ages of the 
world, called Yugs. Each of these Yugs is inferior to its imme- 
mediate predecessor in power, virtue, and happiness. These 
divisions are denominated the Satya, the Treta, the Dwarper, 
and the Kali Yugs, whose united length amounts to the pro- 
digious sum of 4,320,000 years ; yet this sum of the Ages is 
but a Kalpa, or one " Day of Brahma," at the end of which this 
sleepy deity wakes up to find the universe destroyed, and which 
he has then to create anew for another " Day " ere he goes to 
sleep again. 

The Satya Yug, they tell us, lasted 1,728,000 years, and was the 
Age of Truth — the Golden Age — during which the whole race was 
virtuous, and lived each of them 100,000 years, and men attained 
the stature of "21 cubits" (37 feet) in height! 

The Treta Fz/t^ lasted 1,296,000 years ; this was the Silver Age, 
(using the same figures as the Greek and Roman poets,) during 
which one third of the race became corrupt, the human stature was 
lowered, and its life shortened to 10,000 years. 

The Dwarper Yug extended to only 864,000 years — their Brazen 
Age — when fully one half of the race degenerated, and their height 
was again reduced, and their lives shortened to 1,000 years 
each. 

The Kali Yug is the one in which we now live, and is regarded 
by them as the last — the Iron Age — in which mankind has become 
totally depraved, and their stature further reduced, and their life 
limited to 100 years. This Yug, according to them, began 4,950 
years ago, and is to last exactly 427,050 years longer, which will 
close this Kalpa, or " Day of Brahma." 

They assert that one patriarch called Satyavrata, or Vaivaswata, 
had an existence running the whole period of the Satya Yug, 



MAPPING OUT ETERNITY. 7 J 

(1,728,000 years !) and that he escaped with his family from a uni- 
versal deluge, which destroyed the rest of mankind. He is regarded 
by Indian archaeologists as the same person as the Seventh Menu, 
and by Colonel Tod, in his " Annals of Rajasthan," as designating 
the patriarch of mankind, Noah. 

The "Night of Brahma" is held to be of equal length with his 
"Day," and that in the life of Brahma there are 36,000 such nights 
and days. At the end of each " Day" there is a partial destruction 
of the universe, and a reconstruction of it at the close of each 
"Night." During that long night, "sun, moon, and stars are 
shrouded in gloom ; ceaseless torrents of rain pour down ; the 
waves of the ocean, agitated with mighty tempests, rise to a pro- 
digious height — the seven lower worlds, as well as this earth, are 
all submerged. In the midst of this darkness and ruin, and in the 
center of this tremendous abyss, Brahma reposes in mysterious 
slumber upon the serpent Ananta, or eternity. Meanwhile the 
wicked inhabitants of all worlds utterly perish. At length the 
long night ends, Brahma awakes, the darkness is instantly dis- 
pelled, and the universe returns to its pristine order and beauty." 

This amazing chronology further states, that when these 36,000 
"days" and "nights" (each of them 4,320,000 solar years in dura- 
tion) have run their course, Brahma himself shall then expire, 
amid the utter annihilation of the universe, or its absorption into 
the essence of Brahm. This they call a Malta Pralaya, or great 
destruction. After this, Brahm, (the original spirit,) who had 
reposed during the whole duration of the creation's existence, 
awakes again, and from him another manifestation of the universe 
takes place, all things being reproduced as before, and Brahma, 
the Creator, commences a new existence. Each creation is co- 
extensive with the life of Brahma, and lasts over three hundred 
billions of years, (311,040,000,000 years,) and the people of India 
believe that thus it has been during the past eternity, and thus it 
will continue to be in the eternity to come, an alternating succes- 
sion of manifestations and annihilations of the universe at regular 

intervals of this inconceivable length. Truly does Wheeler call 
6 



78 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

this daring reckoning " a bold attempt of the Brahmins to map 
out eternity !" 

Trevor has remarked that the present age (the KaU Yiig) being 
432,000 years, the other three Yugs are found simply by multiply- 
mg that number by 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The number itself is 
the tithe of the sum total of the four Yugs. The "divine year," 
being computed like the prophetic, at a year for a day, (counting 
360 days to the year,) is equal to 360 ordinary years ; and these, 
multiplied by the perfect number 12,000, makes 4,320,000 years, 
the sum of the Ages, and a Kalpa, or " Day of Brahma." 

Trevor supposes, that as this chronologic scheme is too absurd for 
reception, it must have been originally designed as a sort of arith- 
metical allegory, expressing the character, rather than the duration, 
of the periods referred to ; while the descending ratios of 100,000, 
10,000, 1,000, and 100 may indicate only the gradual shortening of 
the term of human life since the creation of man, as the correspond- 
ing proportions of the virtuous and vicious denote the spread of 
moral evil, till in the present age "they are altogether become 
filthy." This theory I leave to the learned reader, having intro- 
duced the topic chiefly to illustrate the mental characteristics of 
the people of India, and to show into what vagaries the human 
intellect, albeit cultivated and subtile, can be drawn in the day- 
dreams of a people on whom the light of Revelation never dawned. 
" Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." 

Their divisions of time are singular: 18 Mimeshas (twinkling of 
an eye, the standard of measure) are equal to i Kashta ; 30 Kash- 
tas to I Kala ; 30 Kalas (48 of our minutes) to i Muhurtta ; 
30 Muhurttas to i day and night ; i Month of Men to i day and 
night of the Pitris, (ancestors ;) i Year of Men to i day and night 
of the Gods. The Hindoos have four watches of the day, and the 
same at night ; these are called Pahars, and are three hours long, 
the first commencing at six o'clock in the morning. The day and 
night together are also divided into sixty smaller portions, called 
Ghtirees, so that each of the eight Pahars consists of seven and a 
half Ghurees. They have twelve months in the year, each month 



MEASURINa TIME. 79 

having thirty days. Half 'the month, when the moon shines, is 
called Oojeeala-pakh, and the other half, which is dark, they call 
Andhera-pakh, and these distinctions they recognize in writing and 
dating their letters. They reckon their era from the reign of 
Bikurmaditt, one of their greatest and best kings, the present )'ear 
of their era being 1934. The Mohammedans date their era from 
the Heiira, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca, which took place 
in A. D. 622 ; this is therefore their 1249th year. 

I saw a very primitive method of measuring time, or ascertaining 
the "ghuree," in India. It was a small brass cup, with a hole in 
the bottom, immersed m a pan of water, and watched by a servant. 
When the cup sinks from the quantity of water its perforation has 
admitted the ghitree is completed, and the cup is again placed empty 
on the top of the water to measure the succeeding ghuree. Great 
attention is, of course, required to preserve any moderate degree of 
correctness by this imperfect mode of marking the progress ol 
the day and night, and establishments are purposely entertained 
for it when considered as a necessary appendage of rank. In 
most other cases, the superior convenience and certainty of our 
clocks and watches are making considerable strides in superseding 
the Hindustanee ghuree. 

A brief glimpse at the wonderful Mythology, Geography, and 
Astronomy of these people will be expected here, as also some 
notice of their venerable Vedas and their voluminous literature. 
Their " Sacred Books " gravely teach as follows : 

" The worlds above this earth are peopled with gods and god- 
desses, demi-gods and genii — the sons and grandsons, daughters 
and granddaughters, of Brahma and other superior deities. All the 
superior gods have separate heavens for themselves. The inferior 
deities dwell chiefly in the heaven of Indra, the god of the firma- 
ment. There they congregate to the number of three hundred and 
thirty millions. The gods are divided and subdivided into classes 
or hierarchies, which vary through every conceivable gradation of 
rank and power. They are of all colors : some black, some white, 
some rftd, some blue, and so through all the blending shades of the 



80 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

rainbow. They exhibit all sorts of shape, size, and figure : in forms 
wholly human or half human, wholly brutal or variously compounded, 
like many-headed and many-bodied centaurs, with four, or ten, or a 
hundred or a thousand eyes, heads, and arms. They ride through the 
regions of space on all sorts of etherealized animals : elephants, buf- 
faloes, lions, deer, sheep, goats, peacocks, vultures, geese, serpents, 
and rats ! They hold forth in their multitudinous arms all manner of 
offensive and defensive weapons : thunderbolts, scimetars, javelins, 
spears, clubs, bows, arrows, shields, flags, and shells ! They dis- 
charge all possible functions. There are gods of the heavens 
above, and of the earth below, and of the regions under the earth ; 
gods of wisdom and of folly ; gods of war and of peace ; gods of 
good and of evil ; gods of pleasure, who delight to shed around 
their votaries the fragrance of harmony and joy ; gods of cruelty 
and wrath, whose thirst must be satiated with torrents of blood, 
and whose ears must be regaled with the shrieks and agonies of 
expiring victims. All the virtues and the vices of man, all the 
allotments of life — beauty, jollity, and sport, the hopes and fears of 
youth, the felicities and infelicities of manhood, the joys and sor- 
rows of old age — all, all are placed under the presiding influence 
of superior powers." — Duff's India. 

The Geography and Astronomy of the Hindoos are on a par with 
their Theology. It would be a waste of time and patience to 
crowd these pages with their wild, ridiculous, and unscientific 
nonsense upon these topics. Yet it may be a duty to say some- 
thing in order to convey a general idea of the subject to such per- 
sons as have not made their system a study. Dr. Duff has had the 
patience to epitomize it ; and from him we quote a passage or two, 
which the reader will deem to be all sufficient, and which he may 
be assured is only a sample of the monstrous extravagances of 
Hindoo " science," falsely so called. 

Speaking of the constitution of the physical universe, as revealed 
in the Sacred Books of the Brahmins, he says : " It is partitioned 
into fourteen worlds — seven inferior, or below the world which we 
inhabit, and seven superior, consisting — with the exception of our 



HINDOO GEOGRAPHY. 8 1 

own, which is the first — of immense tracts of space, oestudded 
with glorious luminaries and habitations of the Gods, rising, not 
unlike the rings of Saturn, one above the other, as so many concen- 
tric zones or belts of alrtiost immeasurable extent. 

" Of the seven inferior worlds which dip beneath our earth in a 
regular descending series, it is needless to say more than that they 
are destined to be the abodes of all manner of wicked and loath- 
some creatures. 

" Our own earth, the first of the ascending series of worlds, is 
declared to be ' circular or flat, like the flower of the water-lily, in 
which the petals project beyond each other.' Its habitable portion 
consists of seven circular islands or continents, each surrounded 
by a different ocean. The central or metropolitan island, destined 
to be the abode of man, is named Jamba Dwip, around which rolls 
the sea of salt water ; next follows the second circular island, and 
around it the sea of sugar-cane juice ; then the third, and around 
it the sea of spirituous liquors ; then the fourth, and around it the 
sea of clarified butter ; then the fifth, and around it the sea of sour 
curds ; then the sixth, and around it the sea of milk ; then the sev- 
enth and last, and around it the sea of sweet water. Beyond this 
last ocean is an uninhabited country of pure gold, so prodigious in 
extent that it equals all the islands, with their accompanying oceans, 
in magnitude. It is begirt with a bounding wall of stupendous 
mountains, which inclose within their bosom realms of everlasting 
darkness. 

" The central island, the destined habitation of the human race, 
is severa. hundred thousand miles in diameter, and the sea that 
surrounds it is of the same breadth. The second island is double 
the diameter of the first, and so is the sea that surrounds it. And 
each of the remaining islands and seas, in succession, is double the 
breadth of its immediate predecessor ; so that the diameter of the 
whole earth amounts to several hundred thousand millions of miles 
— occupying a portion of space of manifold larger dimensions than 
that which actually intervenes between the earth and the sun ! 
Yea, far beyond this ; for, if we could form a conception of a circu- 



82 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA, 

lar mass of solid matter whose diameter exceeded that of the orbil 
of Herschel, the most distant planet in our solar system, such a 
mass would not equal in magnitude the Earth of the Hindoo 
Mythologists ! 

" In the midst of this almost immeasurable plain, from the very 
center of Jamba Dwip, shoots up the loftiest of mountains, 
Su-Meru, to the height of several hundred thousand miles, in the 
form of an inverted pyramid, having its summit, which is two hun- 
dred times broader than the base, surmounted by three swelling 
cones — the highest of these cones transpiercing upper vacancy 
with three golden peaks, on which are situate the favorite resi- 
dences of the sacred Triad. At its base, like so many giant senti- 
nels, stand four lofty hills, on each of which grows a mango-tree 
several thousand miles in height, bearing fruit delicious as nectar, 
and of the enormous size of many hundred cubits. From these 
mangoes, as they fall, flows a mighty river of perfumed juice, so 
communicative of its sweetness that those who partake of it exhale 
the odor from their persons all around to the distance of many 
leagues. There also grow rose-apple trees, whose fruit is ' large as 
elephants,' and whose juice is so plentiful as to form another 
mighty river, that converts the earth over which it passes into 
purest gold ! " — Duff's India ajid India Missions, p. 1 1 6. 

Such is a brief notice of the Geographical outline, furnished by 
their sacred writings, of the world on which we dwell. In turning 
to the superior worlds we obtain a glimpse of some of the revela- 
tions of Hindoo Astronomy. 

" The second world in the ascending series, or that which imme- 
diately over-vaults the earth, is the region of space between us and 
the sun, which is declared, on d'vine authority, to be distant only a 
few hundred thousand miles. The third in the upward ascent is 
the region of space intermediate between the sun and the pole star. 
Within this region are all the planetary and stellar mansions. The 
distances of the principal heavenly luminaries are given with the 
utmost precision. The moon is placed beyond the sun as far as 
the sun is from the earth. Next succeed at equal distances from 



HINDOO ASTRONOMY. 83 

each other, and in the following order, the stars. Mercury, (beyond 
the stars,) Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ursa Major, and the Pole 
Star. ThQfozir remaining worlds (beyond the Pole Star) continue 
to rise, one above the other, at immense and increasing intervals. 
The entire circumference of the celestial space is then given with 
the utmost exactitude of numbers. 

" In all of these superior worlds are framed heavenly mansions, dif- 
fering in glory, destined to form the habitation of various orders of 
celestial spirits. In the seventh, or highest, is the chief residence 
of Brahma, said by one of the " divine sages " to be so glorious that 
he could not describe it in two hundred years, as it contains, in a 
superior degree, every thing which is precious, or beautiful, or 
magnificent in all the other heavens. What then must it be, when 
we consider the surpassing grandeur of some of these } Glance, 
for example, at the heaven which is prepared in the third world, 
and intended for Indra — head and king of the different ranks and 
degrees of subordinate deities. Its palaces are ' all of purest gold, 
so replenished with vessels of diamonds, and columns and orna- 
ments of jasper, and sapphire, and emerald, and all manner of 
precious stones, that it shines with a splendor exceeding the 
brightness of twelve thousand suns. Its streets are of the clearest 
crystal, fringed with fine gold. It is surrounded with forests 
abounding with all kinds of trees and flowering shrubs, whose 
sweet odors are diffused all around for hundreds of miles. It is 
bestudded with gardens and pools of water ; warm in winter and 
cool in summer, richly stored with fish, water-fowl, and lilies, blue, 
red, and white, spreading out a hundred or a thousand petals. 
Winds there are, but they are ever refreshing, storms and sultry 
heats being unknown. Clouds there are, but they are light and 
fleecy, and fantastic canopies of glory. Thrones there are, which 
blaze like the coruscations of lightning, enough to dazzle any mortal 
vision. And warblings there are, of sweetest melody, with all the 
inspiring harmonies of music and of song, among bowers that are 
ever fragrant and ever green.' " — P. 118. 

The reader will remember that these descriptions are not to be 



84 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

taken as figurative and emblematic, as is appropriate to a state of 
glory of whose nature and details the heart of man cannot con- 
ceive, but that they are to be understood, as they are taught, in 
the strictest literality. 

The Vedas are undoubtedly the oldest writings in the world, 
with the exception of the Pentateuch. Colebrook supposes that 
they were compiled in the fourteenth century before Christ. Sir 
William Jones assigns them to the sixteenth century. They are 
certainly not less than three thousand years old. Veda is from the 
Sanscrit root vid, to know, the Veda being considered the foun- 
tain of all knowledge, human and divine. A Veda, in its strict 
sense, is simply a Sanhita, or collection of hymns. There are 
three Vedas, the Rig- Veda, the Yajnr Veda, and the Sania- Veda. 
The fourth, the Atharva Veda, is of more modern date and doubt- 
ful authority. The Hindoos hold that the Vedas are coeval with 
creation. As to their several contents, the Rig- Veda consists of 
prayers and hymns to various deities ; the Yajur Veda, of ordi- 
nances about sacrifices and other religious rites ; the Sania- Veda 
is made up of various lyrical pieces, and the Atharva Veda chiefly 
of incantations against enemies. 

The Rig- Veda is the oldest and most authentic of all, and many 
scholars consider that from it the others were formed. The Hin- 
doo writers attach to each Veda a class of compositions, chiefly 
liturgical and legendary, called Brahmanas, and they have besides 
a sort of expository literature, metaphysical and mystical, called 
Upanishads. They have also an immense body of Vedic literature, 
including philology, commentaries, Sutras or aphorisms, etc., the 
study of which would form occupation for a long and laborious life. 
The remote antiquity of the Vedas is indicated, among other rea- 
sons, by the entire absence of most of the modern doctrines of 
Hindooism, such as the worship of the Triad, the names of the 
modern deities, the doctrines of transmigration, caste, incarna- 
tions, suttee, etc., which are now the cardinal points of Hindooism, 
and the personified Triad of divine attributes, Brahma, Vishnu, 
and Shiva, in their capacities of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, 



THE VEBAS. 85 

with the popular forms of the two latter, Krishna and the Linga, 
and all the manifestations of the bride of Mahadeva certainly were 
utterly unknown to the primitive texts of the religion of the 
Hindoos. 

The Rig-Veda Sanhita (a complete copy of which is before us 
as we write) was translated from the original Sanscrit by Horace 
H. Wilson, and published in English in four volumes, the first 
being issued in 1850, and the last in 1866. The learned Intro- 
duction which the translator attached to the first volume, and an 
extensive and discriminating notice in the Calcutta Review for 1859, 
assist us in our description of these venerable writings. 

The Rig- Veda is a miscellaneous collection of hymns. Each 
hymn is called a Siikta. The whole work is divided into eight 
books, or Ashtakas. Each Ashtaka is subdivided into eight 
Adhyayas, or chapters, containing an arbitrary number of Suktas 
The whole number of hymns in the Rig- Veda is about a thousand. 
Each Sukta has for its reputed author a Rishi, or inspired teacher, 
by whom, in Brahminical phraseology, it has been originally seen, 
that is, to whom it was revealed ; the Vedas being, according to 
mythological fictions, the uncreated dictation of Brahma. Each 
nymn is addressed to some deity or deities. 

Who are the gods to whom the prayers and praises are ad- 
dressed } Here we find a striking difference between the mythol- 
ogy of the Rig- Veda and that of the heroic poems and Ptiranas, 
which come so long after them. The divinities worshiped are not 
unknown to later systems, but they there perform very subordinate 
parts, while those deities who are the great gods — the Dii Majores 
— of the subsequent and present period, are either wholly unnamed 
in the Veda, or are noticed in an inferior and different capacity. 
The names of Shiva, of Mahadeva, of Durga, of Kali, of Rama, of 
Krishna, never occur, and there is not the slightest allusion to the 
form in which, for the last ten centuries at least, Shiva seems to 
have been almost exclusively worshiped in India, that of the Linga 
or Phallus ; neither is there any hint of another important feature 
of later Hindooism, the Trimurti, or Triune combination of Brah- 



86 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

ma, Vishnu, and Shiva, as typified by the mystical syllable Om, 
although, according to high Brahminical authority, the Trimurti 
was the first element in the faith of the Hindoos, and the second 
v.'as the Linga. 

The deities mentioned in the Vedas are numerous, and of dififer- 
ent sexes. The leading ones are Indra, Agni, and Surya ; ana the 
female deities are Ushas, Saraswati, Sinivali, etc. " The wives of 
the gods" are spoken of as a large number, and are often invoked. 
The operations and powers of nature are deified, as the Murats, the 
winds ; the Aswins, the sons of the sun ; and even the cows are 
invoked in a special Sukta. — Vol. iii, p. 440. In fact, the deities, 
inferior and superior, of the Vedas may be counted by the dozen, 
and the work is manifestly polytheistic to the core in its teaching 
and tendencies. The evidence of this is on every page. 

For the general reader, the mystery that covered the Vedas is a 
mystery no longer ; all that they contain stands out for public view 
in the common light of day. Except as to grammatical construc- 
tion and translation into modern words, we are far abler to discover 
and understand what story these ancient documents tell than is any 
of the Pundits. For, in ascertaining their sense, we have to deal 
with questions of race, of language, of history, of chronology, and 
external influences ; questions unknown, and therefore unintelligi- 
ble, to the Hindoo mind. Forbidden to the Sudras, inaccessible 
from their rarity and high price to most of the Brahmins, for that 
very reason they are the objects of a more profound and supersti- 
tious veneration ; and, if any thing can be supposed, a priori, to 
startle and excite all Hindustan, it is surely the announcement that 
the Vedas have become public property, and that Sudra and 
Mlechcha (barbarian) may read them at his will. 

It was almost entirely from such writings as these that European 
scholars had to undertake the compilation of a true chronology and 
history for India. The task was certainly not an easy one. It 
was like this : Given the Psalms of David, to discover from these 
alone the manners, customs, religions, arts, sciences, history, chro- 
nology, and origin of the Jewish nation ; to classify the hymns too, 



BEEF-EATING SANCTIONED BY THE VEDA. 8; 

and assign to each its time and author, with no other help than the 
heading to each Psalm, added by a later hand. Knowing, as we 
do, that they range almost from Moses till after the captivity — at 
least seven hundred years — the later parts of the task alone would 
demand all the resources of scholarship. It is true that the Vedic 
hymns are ten times more numerous than the Psalms, but they are 
at the same time ten times more monotonous, and full of wearisome 
repetitions, under which even Professor Wilson's patience gives 
way. In our Sacred Books the Code precedes, and the history 
precedes, accompanies, and follows the Psalms. With the Hindoo 
the Code comes after the hymns, and has to do with a different 
stage of society, and the history never comes at all! Nevertheless, 
the Vedas, with all their difficulties, throw a flood of light upon 
the origin and early state of the Hindoos. 

The people among whom the Vedas were composed, as here 
introduced to us, had evidently passed the nomadic stage. Their 
wealth consisted of horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and buffaloes. 
Coined money, and indeed money in any shape, was unknown. 
We meet but two allusions to gold, except for the purpose of orna-* 
ments. The cow was to the Vedic Hindoo at once food and 
money. It supplied him with milk, butter, ghee, curds, and 
cheese. Oxen ploughed his fields, and carried his goods and chat- 
tels. He preserved the Soma-juice in a bag of cow-skin, {Rig- Veday 
vol. I, p. 72,) and the cow-hide girt his chariot. (Vol. Ill, p. 475.) 
No idea oi sacredness was connected with the cow ; and it is quite 
clear, however abhorrent and revolting the truth may appear to 
their descendants, that in the golden age of their ancestors the 
Hindoos were a cowkilling and beef-eatiftg people, and that cattle 
are declared in the Vedas to be the very best of food ! Yet modern 
Hindooism holds it to be a deadly sin to kill a cow, or eat beef, or 
to use intoxicating drink, and they dare to assert that this was 
always their creed. We quote texts which leave no room for a 
doubt on this, to them, important fact : 

" Agni, descendant of Bharata thou art entirely ours when sac- 
rificed to with pregnant kine, barren cows, or bulls." 



88 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

" Agni, the friend of Indra, has quickly consumed three hundred 
buffaloes." 

"When thou hast eaten the flesh of the three hundred buffaloes,' 

''Bestow upon him who glorifies thee, divine Indra, food, the 
chiefest of which is cattle." — Vol II, p. 225 ; III, p. 276. 

"Sever his joints, Indra, as butchers cut up a cow." — Vol. Ill, 
p. 458 ; I, p. 165. 

What an amount of beef-eating is implied in a sacrifice of t/in-c 
hundred buffaloes ! the greater part, as usual, being devoured by 
the assistants. The cooking is very minutely and graphically 
described in vol. II, pp. 117, etc. Part was roasted on spits, while 
the attendants eagerly watched the joints, sniffing up the grateful 
fumes, and saying, " It is fragrant." The queens and wives of the 
sacnficers assisted in cooking and preparing the banquet, which, 
on particular occasions, alluded to in the text, consisted of horse- 
flesh ! All was washed down with copious libations of a strong 
spirit, made from the juice of the soma plant. Rishi KaksJiivat 
had in every way most unclerical propensities. He thanks the 
Aswins most cordially for giving him a cask holding a hundred 
jars of wine, (vol. I, p. 308 ;) and Rishi Vamadeva, who was taken 
out of his mother's side, soHcits Indra (vol. Ill, p. 185) for a hun- 
dred jars of soma-juice. Rishi Agastya also, in a queer, half-crazy 
Sukta, (vol. II, p. 200,) writes of "a leather bottle in the house of 
a vender of spirits!' These were the men that fought Alexandei 
the Great. After such a feast of the gods, Indra puts forth all his 
might, and destroys the fiercest of the Asuras, (the evil spirits.) 

The social position of woman, this Veda demonstrates, was con- 
siderably higher than it is in modern India. She is spoken of 
kindly and pleasantly as " the light of the dwelling." The Rishi 
and his wife converse on equal terms, go together to the sacrifice, 
and practice austerities together. Lovely maidens appear in a 
procession. Grown-up unmarried daughters remain without re- 
proach in their father's house. Now, all this is the reverse of the 
Hindooism of the present day. On the other hand, we have a case 
of polygamy of the most shameful kind. Kakshivat, one of the 



THE W0B8HIP OF THE VEDA. 89 

most illustrious of the Rishis, married ten sisters at once, (vol. II, 
p. 17 ;) and, if the tone of female society is to be judged of from the 
wife even of a Rishi, or from a lady who is herself the author of a 
Sukta, women in those days were no better than they should be. 

A gallant, deep-drinking, high-feeding race were the wild war- 
riors of the Indus, and very unlike their descendants. 

The picture of Hindoo life and manners, at the time of the Mace- 
donian invasion, (326 B. C.,) was darkly shaded. The Hindoo even 
then had degenerated ; and the " Life of an Eastern King" on the 
banks of the Indus differed little in its shameless details from that 
of his modern successor at Lucknow, on the banks of the Goomtee, 

Rufus Curtius Quintus, the historian of Alexander, writes of the 
Hindoos thus : " The shameful luxuries of their prince surpasses 
that of all other nations. He reclines in a golden palankeen, with 
pearl hangings. The dresses which he puts on are embroidered 
with purple and gold. The pillars of his palace are gilt ; and a 
running pattern of a vine, carved in gold, and figures of birds, in 
silver, ornament each column. The durbar is held while he combs 
and dresses his hair ; then he receives embassadors, and decides 
cases. . . . The women prepare the banquet and pour out the 
wine, to which all the Indians are greatly addicted. Whenever he, 
or his queen, went on a journey, crowds of dancing girls in gilt 
palankeens attended ; and when he became intoxicated they carried 
him to his couch." — Liber Ylll, 32. And, if we are to believe his 
biographer, into such a vile, sensual thing as this the great Alex- 
ander himself was rapidly degenerating at that very time ! 

The religion of the Vedas, then, was Nature worship ; light, 
careless, and irreverent, utterly animal in its inmost spirit, with 
little or no sense of sin, no longings or hopes of immortality, 
nothing high, serious, or thoughtful. There was no love in their 
worship. They cared only for wealth, victory, animal gratification, 
and freedom from disease. The tiger of the forest might have 
joined in such prayers, and said, " Grant me health, a comfortable 
den, plenty of deer and cows, and strength to kill any intruder on 
my beat ! " " The blessings they implore," says Professor Wilson, 



90 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

" are for the most part of a temporal and personal description — 
wealth, food, life, posterity, cattle, cows, and horses ; protection 
against enemies, victory over them, and sometimes their destruc- 
tion. There are a few indications of a hope of immortality and of 
future happiness, but they are neither frequent, nor, in general, dis- 
tinctly announced. In one or two passages Yama, and his office 
of ruler of the dead, are obscurely alluded to. There is little 
demand for moral benefactions." — Vol. I, p. 25. 

So merely fanciful, so wearisome and monotonous, so contempt- 
uously irreverent are the great bulk of these Vedic prayers, (to 
Indra especially,) that Professor Wilson, with all his patience, can 
scarce believe them to be earnest. Take, for instance, the followins: 
Hymn. It is addressed to the goddess Anna Devata, personified 
as Pitu, or material food, and is recited by a Brahmin when about to 
eat. Pitu is also identified with the Soma juice, mentioned below. 
The Rishi is Agastya, and the reader can judge if any utterances 
(and this, too, professing to be sacred and inspired) that he has ever 
seen, more fully illustrates the words of Holy Writ, " Whose God is 
their belly, whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things : '* 

" I. I glorify Pitu, the great, the upholder, the strong, by whose 
invigorating power Trita slew the mutilated Vritra. 

" 2. Savory Pitu ; sweet Pitu ; we worship thee : become our 
protector. 

" 6. The thoughts of the mighty gods are fixed, Pitu, upon thee : 
by thy kind and intelligent assistance Indra slew Ahi. 

" 8. And since we enjoy the abundance of the waters and the 
plants, therefore, Body, do thou grow fat ! 

"9. And since we enjoy. Soma, thy mixture with boiled milk or 
boiled barley, therefore. Body, do thou grow fat ! 

" 10. Vegetable cake of fried meal, do thou be substantial, whole- 
some, and invigorating ; and. Body, do thou grow fat ! 

*' II. We extract from thee, Pitu, by our praises, the sacrificial 
food, as cows yield butter for oblation ; from thee, who art exhila- 
rating to the gods ; exhilarating also to us." — Rig- Veda, Vol. II, p, 
iq4. Sukta viii. 



DBUNKEX WORSHIP OF THE VEDA. 91 

In a similar strain the Soma-plant is addressed. 

It was bruised between two stones, mixed with milk or barley 
juice, and, when fermented, formed a strong, inebriating, ardent 
spirit — probably not very unlike the whisky of the present day. 

It appears that the Rishis of the Vedas introduced this custom, 
or belief, into religion, Indra and all the other gods are every- 
where represented as unable to perform any great exploit without 
the inspiration of the Soma, or, in plain English, until they were 
more or less drimk ! Hear the Veda : 

" May our Soma libation reach you, exhilarating, invigorating, 
inebiiating, most precious. It is companionable, Indra, enjoyable, 
the overthrower of hosts, immortal. 

" Thy inebriety is most intense : nevertheless thy acts are most 
beneficent," — Vol, II, p, 169, 

" Savory indeed is this Soma ; sweet it is, sharp, and full of flavor : 
no one is able to encounter Indra in battle, after he has been 
quaffing this — by drinking of it Indra has been elevated to the 
slaying of Vritra," etc, — Vol. Ill, p. 470. 

" The stomach of Indra is as capacious a receptacle of Soma as 
a lake." — Vol. Ill, p. 60. " The belly of Indra, which quaffs the 
Soma juice abundantly, swells like the ocean, and is ever moist, like 
the ample fluids of the palate." — Vol. Ill, pp. 17, 231, 232. " Indra, 
quafl" the Soma juice, repeatedly shaking it from your beard." — Vol. 
II, p. 233. What common revelry is expressed in the following 
verse : " Saints and sages, sing the holy strain aloud, like scream- 
ing swans, and, together with the gods, drink the sweet juice of the 
Soma."— Vol. Ill, p. m. 

This license runs riot, and "the goddesses, the wives of the 
gods," (Vol. III. p. 316,) with earthly ladies, one of them (Viswa- 
vara) herself a Rishi and compiler of a Sukta (Vol. Ill, p. 273) 
in which she prays for "concord between man and wife," all are 
joined — gods, goddesses, and "divine Rishis" — in high carousal. 
But, then, mark what Rishi Avatsara says of this lady, Viswavara, 
and of his brother Rishis, and the rest of the boisterous crew, all 
" gloriously drunk " together : 



92 THE LAND OF THE VEBA. 

"11. Swift is the excessive and girt-distending inebriation of 
Viswavara, Yajata, and Mayin : by drinking of these juices they 
urge one another to drink: they find the copious draught the 
prompt giver of intoxication !" — Vol. Ill, p. 311. 

And this was the worship of Ancient India ! Jolly and easy are 
the terms on which deity and worshiper meet together for their 
wassail ! Prajapate addresses his god thus : " Indra, the showerer 
of benefits, drink the Soma offered after the other presentations, 
for thine exhilaration for battle ; take into thy belly the full wave 
of the inebriating Soma, for thou art lord of libations from the 
days of old!" (Vol. Ill, p. 75.) But the Rishi Viswamitra evi- 
dently thought that, under the circumstances, there was no use in 
standing upon even Hindoo ceremony, so he says to his deity : 
" Sit down, Indra, upon the sacred grass — and when thou hast 
drunk the Soma, then, Indra, ^^ home!" finishing up the address 
by reminding him that the hungry steeds in his car at the dooi 
need consideration, and require their provender ! — Vol. Ill, p. 84. 

How melancholy and degrading is all this — god, worshiper, and 
the traffic between them ! But one grade above the beasts that 
perish ; yet these are the teachings of the most sacred of the so- 
called " Holy Vedas .'* " This drunken worship realizes and sur- 
passes Dionysius and the Bacchanals themselves. 

These besotted mortals had evidently reached that stage of 
debasement when men can suppose that the Almighty " was alto- 
gether such a one as themselves," and when they can "call evil 
good " and " put darkness for light." Well might the reviewer 
exclaim, from the abundant and fearful evidence before him that, 
"No worship ever mocked the skies more miserable and contemptible 
than the religion of the Veda ! " 

But, what are we to think of professedly enlightened Hindoos, 
like Rajah Rammohun Roy, or this modern Baboo, Kesimb Chun- 
der Sen, who, if they ever read the Vedas, of which they talk so 
glibly, must surely have dared to presume upon the ignorance of 
their auditors, when they had the temerity, in a day like this, and 
before a London audience, to assert that " the worship of Almighty 



DEGEPTION AS TO CONTENTS OF THE VEBA. 93 

God in his unity," and " a pure system of theism " are taught in 
the Vedas f — Men, who after all this have the impertinence to 
assume a patronizing aspect toward Christianity, and superciliously 
inform us that, however good or pure our faith is in itself, its doc- 
trine and services are not needed in India, because " the Holy 
Vedas" contain all that is requisite for the regeneration of their 
country ! Yet this is said and repeated, and Miss Carpenter and 
her Unitarian friends clap their hands, applaud the assertions, and 
lionize the man who utters them, and commend the Brahtno Somaj, 
of which he is the High Priest ! Do not such people deserve to be 
deceived ? and is it really a violation of Christian charity to fear that 
such persons must be given over to " strong delusion " when they 
can believe such " a lie " as this ? 

After a careful examination, from beginning to end, of this ven- 
erable and lauded work, (the doors of which have so lately opened 
for the admission of mankind,) with the remembrance in my 
mind of the long years when men have listened to the reiterations 
of its holiness, as the very source of all Hindoo faith — the oracle 
from which Vedantic Philosophy has drawn its inspiration, the 
temple at whose mere portal so many millions have bowed in such 
awe and reverence, with its interior too holy for common sight, 
containing, as it was asserted, all that was worth knowing, the 
primitive original truth that could regenerate India, and make 
even Christianity unnecessary — well, with no feelings save those 
of deep interest and a measure of respect, we have entered and 
walked from end to end, to find ourselves shocked at every step 
with the revelations of this mystery of iniquity and sensuality, 
where saints and gods, male and female, hold high orgies amid the 
fumes of intoxicating liquor, with their singing and " screaming," 
and the challenging by which " they urge one another " on to 
deeper debasement, until at length decency retires and leaves them 
" glorying in their shame ! " 

The sad samples which we have presented are taken at random, 
and can be matched by hundreds of passages equally contemptible ; 

while we have purposely avoided quoting Suktas and verses whose 

7 



94 



THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



indelicacy is even worse than these ; nor have we found, because 
it is not there, any thing pure, subHme, or good, with which to 
offset the vileness here laid before the reader. Coming out again 
from the gloomy scenes of these " works of darkness " into the 
light and purity of our blessed Bible, with all its " fruits of the 
Spirit," never before were we so thankful for our holy religion, noi- 
have we ever felt as deep a compassion for the millions so shame- 
fully and so long deluded by the false and hollow pretensions of 
the Vedic teaching. 

Before dismissing the subject I will, for the sake of such readers 
as may not have seen an entire Sukta of the Veda, quote one in 
full, so that he may have a complete view of the " holiest " and 
most venerable of all India's " Scriptures," selecting one, however, 
that may be regarded as respectable in its ideas and language. I 
take the fifth Sukta, on page 38 of volume I of the Rig- Veda. The 
Rishi (or author) is Medhalithi, the son of Kanwa, and the hymn 
is addressed to Indra, their God of the Heavens : 

" Sukta V. 

" I, Indra, let thy coursers hither bring thee, bestower of desires, 
to drink the Soma juice ; may the priests, radiant of the sun, 
make thee manifest. 

" 2. Let his coursers convey Indra in an easy-moving chariot 
hither, where these grains of parched barley, steeped in clarified 
butter, are strewn upon the altar. 

" 3. We invoke Indra at the morning rite, we invoke him at the 
succeeding sacrifice, we invoke Indra to drink the Soma juice. 

" 4. Come, Indra, to our libation, with thy long-maned steeds ; 
the libation being poured out, we invoke thee. 

" 5. Do thou accept this our praise, and come to this our sacrifice, 
for which the libation is prepared ; drink like a thirsty stag. 

"6. These dripping Soma juices are efflised upon the sacred 
grass ; drink them, Indra. to recruit thy vigor. 

" 7. May this our excellent hymn, touching thy heart, be grateful 
to thee, and thence drink the effused libation. 



THE RAM AY ANA. 95 

** 8, Indra, the destroyer of enemies, repairs assuredly to every 
ceremony where the Ubation is poured out, to drink the Soma 
juice for exhilaration. 

" 9. Do thou, Satakratu, accompHsh our desire with cattle and 
horses : profoundly meditating, we praise thee." 

As the Greeks and Romans had their Homer and Virgil, so the 
Hindoos have had their Valmiki and Vyasa. The great epics of 
India are the Ramayana and the Mahabarata. These stand peer- 
less in their voluminous literature, and have held control of the 
minds of the people since long before the Incarnation. 

The Ramayana is probably the most ancient and connected 
epic poem in the Sanscrit, and exceeded only by the Vedas in 
antiquity. It contains the mythical history of Rama, one of the 
incarnations of the god Vishnu, and was written by the great poet 
Valmiki. For a very brief epitome of this wonderful and venera- 
ble development of Hindoo literature we are indebted to Speir's 
" Ancient India." 

The style and language of the Ramayana are those of an early 
ijeroic age, and there are signs of its having been popular in India 
at least three centuries before Christ. The original subject of the 
poem is sometimes considered as mythological, and sometimes as 
heroic ; but the mythological portions stand apart, and have the 
air of after-thoughts, intended to give a religious and philosophical 
tone to what was at first a tale rehearsed at festivals in praise of 
the ancestors of kings. The mythological introduction states that 
Lanka, or Ceylon, had fallen under the dominion of a prince named 
Ravana, who was a demon of such power that by dint of penance he 
had extorted from the god Brahm a promise that no immortal should 
destroy him. Such a promise was as relentless as the Greek Fates, 
from which Jove himself could not escape ; and Ravana, now invid- 
7ierable to the gods, gave up the asceism he had so long practiced, and 
tyrannized over the whole of Southern India in a fearful manner. 
At length, even the gods in heaven were distressed at the destruc- 
tion of holiness and oppression of virtue consequent upon Ravana's 



96 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

tyrannies, and they called a council in the mansion of Brahma to 
consider how the earth could be relieved from such a fiend. To 
this council came the "god Vishnu, riding on the eagle Vain-a-taya, 
like the sun on a cloud, and his discus and his mace in hand." The 
other gods entreat him to give his aid, and he promises, in conse- 
quence, to be born on earth, and to accomplish the destruction of 
the terrific Ravana Vishnu therefore became incarnated (his 
Seventh Avatar) as Rama or Ramchtmdra, and his life and exploits 
as the celebrated King of Ayodhya, form the subject of this, 
the earliest epic poem of India. According to this work, Rama 
was born as the son of Dasharatha, King of Ayodhya, the modern 
Oude. In early life Rama married Seeta, the lovely daughter of 
the King of Mithili. But domestic trouble, caused by the intrigues 
of his mother-in-law in behalf of her own son, caused Rama and 
Seeta to retire to the forests, and there they lived the lives of her- 
mits for years, till the time for his action should come. While in 
this seclusion, Ravana, the demon King of Lanka, (Ceylon,) who 
had heard of the beauty of Seeta, resolved to steal her from Rama. 
Finding it in vain to hope to succeed without the aid of stratagem, 
he took with him an assistant sorcerer, disguised as a deer ; and as 
Rama took great pleasure in the chase, it was not difficult for the 
deer to lure him from his cottage in pursuit. He did not leave his 
beloved Seeta without requesting Lakshman, his brother, to remain 
in charge ; but the wily deer knew how to defeat his precaution, and, 
when transfixed by Rama's arrow, he cried out in the voice of 
Rama, " O, Lakshman, save me ! " Seeta heard the cry, and 
entreated Lakshman to fly to his brother's rescue. He was un- 
willing to go, but yielded to her earnestness, and she was left 
alone. This being the state of affairs which Ravana desired, he 
now left his hiding-place, and came forward, disguised as an Ascetic 
Brahmin, in a red, threadbare garment, with a single tuft of hair 
upon his head, and three sticks and a pitcher in his hand. In the 
rich, glowing poetry all creation is represented as shuddering at 
his approach ; birds, beasts, and flowers were motionless with 
dread ; the summer wind ceased to breathe, and a shiver passed 



THE TEMPTATION OF SEETA. 97 

over the bright waves of the river. Ravana stood for awhile look- 
ing at his victim, as she sat weeping and musing over the unknown 
cry ; but soon he approached, saying, (we quote the metrical trans- 
lation here,^ 

*'0 thou that shinest like a tree 

With summer blossoms overspread, 
Wearing that woven ktisa robe, 

And lotus garland on thy head, 
Why art thou dwelling here alone, 

Here in this dreary forest's shade, 
Where range at will all beasts of prey, 

And demons prowl in every glade ? 
Wilt thou not leave thy cottage home, 

And roam the world, which stretches wide — 
See the fair cities which men build. 

And all their gardens and their pride ? 
Why longer, fair one, dwell'st thou here, 

Feeding on roots and sylvan fare. 
When thou might'st dwell in palaces, 

And earth's most costly jewels wear? 
Fearest thou not the forest gloom, 

Which darkens round on every side ? 
Who art thou, say ! and whose, and whence, 

And wherefore dost thou here abide ? " 

Even a lady alone is not supposed to be necessarily alarmed at 
meeting " a holy Brahmin," and the fiend's disguise was so com- 
plete that only a temporary flush of excitement followed his sudden 
address. So the poet continues : 

" When first these words of Ravana 

Broke upon sorrowing Seeta's ear. 
She started up, and lost herself 

In wonderment, and doubt, and fear ; 
But soon her gentle, loving heart 

Threw off suspicion and surmise. 
And slept again in confidence, 

LuU'd by the mendicant's disguise. 
' Hail, holy Brahmin ! ' she exclaimed j 

And, in her guileless purity. 
She gave a welcome to her guest, 

With courteous hospitality. 
Water she brought to wash his feet, 

And food to satisfy his need. 
Full little dreaming in her heart 

What fearftdgtiest she had received," 



98 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

She even tells him her own story, how Rama had won her for 
his bride and taken her to his father's home, and how the jealous 
Kaikeyi had cast them forth to roam the woods ; and after dwell- 
ing fondly on her husband's praise, she invited her guest to tell his 
name and lineage, and what had induced him to leave his native 
land for the wilds of the Dandaka forest, inviting him to await hei 
husband's return, for " to him are holy wanderers dear." Suddenly 
Ravana declares himself to be the demon monarch of the earth, 
"at whose name Heaven's armies flee." He has come, he says, 
to woo Seeta for his queen, and to carry her to his palace in the 
island of Ceylon ! Astonished and indignant at his character and 
proposal, the wrath of Rama's wife burst forth in these words : 

"Me would' st thou woo to be thy queen, 

Or dazzle with thy empire's shine ? 
And didst thou dream that Rama's wife 

Could stoop to such a prayer as thine? 
I, who can look on Rama's face, 

And know that there my husband stands, — 
Aly Rama, whose high chivalry 

Is blazoned through a hundred lands ! 
What ! shall the jackal think to tempt 

The lioness to mate with him ? 
Or did the King of Lanka's isle, 

Build upon such an idle dream ? " 

But vain was poor Seeta's indignant remonstrance. Ravana's 
only answer was to throw off his disguise, and, "with brows as 
dark as the storm-cloud," he carried off the shrieking Seeta as an 
eagle bears its prey, mounting up aloft and flying with his burden 
through the sky. The unhappy Seeta calls loudly upon Rama, and 
bids the flowery bowers and trees and rivers all tell her Rama that 
Ravana has stolen his Seeta from his home. In Rama's time the 
woods were inhabited by demons and monkeys. On returning and 
ascertaining his great loss, Rama did not feel strong enough to 
recover Seeta single-handed. He therefore entered into an alliance 
with the monkeys. First, the monkey-king Sugriva dispatched 
emissaries in all directions to ascertain where Seeta was concealed ; 
and when the monkey-general Hunooinaji (the Mars of India) ascer- 



THE MAHABARATA. 99 

tained that she was in a palace in Ceylon, Rama and all the allied 
monkey forces marched down to the Coromandel coast, and, mak- 
ing a bridge by casting rocks into the sea, passed quickly into 
Lanka. After fighting a few battles the Rakshasas (demons) were 
defeated, Ravana was put to death by Rama, and Seeta rescued 
froir her palace prison, Rama will, however, have nothing to say 
to his recovered wife until she has gone through " the ordeal of 
fire ; " but as she passed through the blazing pile unhurt, and 
Brahma and other gods attested her fidelity, her husband once 
more received her with affection, and, the term of exile over, the 
whole party returned in happiness to Ayodhya. Such, in brief, 
is the story of the Ramayana, which is spun out into details and 
episodes of great length. It is read very extensively to listening 
crowds in India, who believe every word, no matter how improba- 
ble, as we would the most authentic records of our own history or 
our Holy Bible. 

The Mahabarata is the second famous epic of India. We have 
only room to say that it describes a contest between the two 
branches of the Chundra, or Moon dynasty, for the sovereignty of 
the Ganges territory. The " Great War " (as the word Mahabarata 
expresses) is generally regarded as having taken place about two 
hundred years before the siege of Troy. 

Princes are enumerated as taking part in the struggle from the 
Deccan, and the Indus, and even beyond the Indus, especially the 
Yarases, thought to be Greeks. Fifty-six royal leaders were assem- 
bled on the field of battle, which raged for eighteen days with pro- 
digious slaughter — another proof of the division of India into 
many separate States, though occasionally combined, as in this 
poem, under the leadership of some great general on either side. 
The contest was waged between the sons of Pandu, the deceased 
Rajah, and their cousins the Kooroos, who denied their legitimacy 
— a never-failing subject of dispute in Hindoo successions. It 
ended in the victory of the Pandus ; but what they gained by arms 
they lost through gaming. Yudisthira, the Agamemnon of the 
poem, departs with his brothers and the beautiful Draupadi into 



lOO THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

exile on the Himalayas. Their evil deeds prevailing, they drop 
dead, one after another, by the way-side. Yudisthira is the last, 
and when Indra comes to admit him to Swarga (Paradise) he 
demands to be accompanied by his faithful dog. The poem follows 
the hero into the other world. Arrived in Indra's paradise, and 
finding his enemies there before him, with none of his party, he 
refuses to stay, and, descending to the shades in quest of Draupadi 
and his brothers, succeeds in rescuing them from torment. The 
gods applaud his virtue, and he is permitted to convey himself 
and all his party to Swarga. The hero of this poem is Krishna, 
the great ally of the Pandus, and generally regarded as the eighth 
incarnation of Vishnu. — Trevor's India, p. 52. 



ARCHITEGTUBE OF INDIA. lOI 



CHAPTER III. 

ARCHITECTURAL MAGNIFICENCE OF INDIA 

THE missionary authorities of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
resolved, in the year 1854, to found a mission in India, and 
they advertised during that year and the next for a man to go 
forth and commence the work. The writer, after waiting in the 
hope that some one else, better suited for the duty and less cum 
bered with family cares, would answer to the call, offered himself 
for the service. This involved one of the keenest trials through 
which himself and wife had ever passed — no less than a separation 
from their two elder boys. The necessity for this, in the case of 
children over the age of seven years exposed to the climate and 
moral influence in India, as well as the educational need, are all 
understood. 

Having no personal friends to whose care they could be in- 
trusted, they had to be placed at a boarding-school in the hands 
of strangers. God only knows the feelings with which we 
resigned them, fearing (what proved too true in the case of one 
of them) that we might see them no more on earth ; but, so far as 
we could understand, it was either this, or for our Church to fail of 
her duty to perishing men in India. We understood that such 
sacrifices were contemplated by the Head of the Church when he 
instituted a missionary ministry for the salvation of the world. 
He was well aware what this would involve to the souls of many 
parents in the future, and therefore, to sustain them under the 
peculiar cross, he had put on record one of his most glorious 
promises. There can be no mistake as to the circumstances con- 
templated. " Peter said, Lo, we have left all and followed thee 
And He said unto theni. Verily, verily, I say unto you. There is 
no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or 



I02 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive mani- 
fold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlast- 
ing." With hearts bleeding at the sacrifice which we were called 
to make, we clung to the precious and appropriate promise of our 
divine Master, committed our little ones to his care, and went 
forth to fulfill his commission to the best of our ability. 

With my wife and two younger children I sailed from Boston on 
the 9th of April, 1856. I was instructed to proceed by way of 
England, and there obtain from the secretaries of the different 
missionary societies all the information available in regard to those 
unoccupied portions of India where we might labor without in- 
terference with existing missions, "to preach the Gospel, not 
where Christ is named, lest we should build upon another man's 
foundation," and there labor for the enlargement of the kingdom 
of God. 

Having attended to this duty, and obtained all the light that the 
secretaries and returned missionaries could impart, I resolved to 
proceed to Calcutta, and from that to move westward into the 
heart of the country and examine the Valley of the Ganges. 
We left Southampton on the 20th of August in the steamship 
Pera. Just as we were departing, the consort ship of the same 
line, the Ripon, came in with the mails and passengers from India, 
and on board of her was the Queen of Oude, coming to place 
before the British Queen her protest against the annexation of 
Oude, and to plead for the restoration of the sovereignty to her 
family. 

Apart from the singularity of the fact that she was probably the 
first lady of her race who had ever come to a western clime, her 
presence there occasioned me no particular interest ; yet, as God 
looked down upon the objects of each, how much she and I, thus 
meeting casually for a moment, really depended upon each other's 
movements ! Had she succeeded in her mission, I must neces- 
sarily have failed in mine, so far as our present mission field is 
concerned, for I was unconsciously going to the kingdom which 
she had ruled, and to the very capital whose gates she had left ajar 



OUR RECEPTION IN INDIA. 103 

five weeks before — gates that had been closed by Mohammedan 
bigotry against Christianity for ages. Her success on this expe- 
dition would have closed them again indefinitely, and I should have 
had to go elsewhere ; but He whose holy providence guided my 
steps took care of the issues. She failed, and I succeeded, yet 
not without "a great fight of afflictions," as the sequel will show. 

We landed at Calcutta on the 23d of September, and were most 
cordially welcomed by the missionary brethren there, and aided by 
their opinions and advice in regard to the unoccupied territory of 
the country. We soon realized, in the brotherly kindness of their 
intercourse, and the gladness with which they regarded the incom- 
ing of another mission, what real evangelical union, and what free- 
dom from sectarianism, exist among Christians in a heathen land. 
Dr. Duff was especially kind to us. He seemed so thankful that 
the Lord was sending more help to redeem the India he loved 
so well, and for which he had labored so long and so faithfully. 
As we parted from the great and good man, I little imagined that 
within a year, counting us among the slain, he would write a 
sort of biography of me, (in his work " The Indian Rebellion,") or 
that I should live to thank him, at his own table, for the peculiar 
privilege of knowing what my friends would say of me when I was 
dead. Yet so it proved. 

Proceeding at once up the country, we reached the city of Agra, 
the seat of government for the North-west, and soon realized that 
we were now amid the splendid evidences of the power and glory 
of the " Great Moguls." This imperial city, and the adjoining one 
of Delhi, were full of those reminiscences, and the interest which 
they at once awakened was something intense and peculiar. 

We were in blissful ignorance of any cause for anxiety — knew 
not what a volcano of wrath was quietly preparing beneath our 
feet, or how surely the titled and decorated " Nawabs," whose 
courteous salaams we returned, were thirsting for our blood, and 
resolving to have it, too ; but we will let that subject rest here, until 
we share with the reader our interest and delight as we survey some 
of those magnificent, those matchless, monuments of Patau skill 



I04 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and wealth with which we now found ourselves surrounded. This 
will also give him a better idea than any thing else could do as to 
what those imperial people risked in their desperate enterprise, 
when pensions, palaces, titles, ancestral monuments, and mauso- 
leums, with all their gorgeous traditions, were the mighty stakes 
ventured in the frantic and final struggle of their dynasty with a 
superior civilization and the strength which accompanies it. We 
were, though we knew it not, contemplating many of these glories 
for the last time in which men could gaze in admiration upon 
them, for most of them, save the Taj and the Kootub, were des- 
tined to destruction by the ruin which war was so soon to bring. 
When we saw them again, one year afterward, "the glory had 
departed," save in the cases given. The Taj, especially, seemed as 
though self-protected by its own purity and loveliness ; even ravag- 
ing war respected it, friend and foe alike agreeing that its beaut}- 
should remain unsullied forever. 

The first permanent conquest by a Mohammedan sovereign in 
India was that made by Mahmoud of Ghuznee in the year looi. 
Sixty-five rulers of that faith, during the following eight centuries, 
tried to maintain their authority over the great Hindoo nations. It 
may be doubted whether any part of the world was ever so cursed 
by a line of bigoted, ferocious wretches as, with two or three excep- 
tions, were these Mohammedan despots of India during that time. 
To many of them may be truly applied the terrible lines of Moore : 

" One of that saintly, murderous brood, 

To carnage and the Koran given, 
Who think through unbelievers' blood 

Lies their directest path to heaven ; 
One who will pause and kneel unshod 

In the warm blood his hand hath poured, 
To mutter o'er some text of God 

Engraven on his reeking sword ; 
Nay, who can coolly note the line, 
The letters of those words divine, 
To which his blade, with searching art, 
Had sunk into its victim's heart ! " 

And all this transacted by these " bloody men " under the pro- 
fessed sanction and authority of a holy and merciful God, whose 




Mohammed Suraj-oo-deen Shah Gezee, Emperor of Delhi, the Last of the Moguls. 



aHARACTEB OF MOSLEM RULE. 1 07 

special favor and reward they asserted awaited them in Paradise for 
blasphemous cruelties like these ! The reference in the lines is to 
their habit of engraving texts from the Koran upon their swords. 
What millions, during the past eight centuries, have been destroyed 
by Mohammedanism and Romanism in the name of religion, till 
humanity sighs to be relieved of their baneful presence, and the 
true Christian looks forward solemnly to the awful hour when He 
" to whom vengeance belongeth " will call " the beast and the false 
prophet " to their dread account — partners in punishment as they 
have been in guilt ! 

The character and cruelties of Popery recorded in Motley's recent 
histories are equaled in India's records by those Moslem scourges, 
Hyder Ali, Tippoo, Tamerlane, Nadir Shah, and Aurungzebe. 
The creed of the Koran is utterly unfit for civil government. It is 
a system of moral and political bondage, sustained only by military 
power and despotic rule, naturally corrupting those who adminis- 
ter it, while it has ever pauperized and demoralized the people who 
have been subjected to its sway. The Moguls have done in India 
what the Turks have accomplished in Asia Minor ; and yet, while 
destroying and impoverishing, neither race have taken root in either 
land. In the former the power of the Moguls crumbled to pieces, 
and in the latter that of the Turks is now " ready to vanish away." 

The last century closed upon Shah Alum — the grandfather of the 
monarch whose portrait we here present — engaged in a terrible 
struggle with the Rohillas of the North and the Mahrattas of the 
South. The long examples of perfidy and blood were then bearing 
their fruit, and had made these once subject-races the remorseless 
and inveterate enemies of the Mogul rule. Their power had been 
rising as that of the Emperor was in its decadence. Destitute of 
the means, which were once so abundant, to repress these conflicts, 
the aged Emperor had to witness these fierce and powerful parties 
contending with each other for the possession of his person and his 
capital, and the power to rule in his name. 

In 1785, Sindia, the Mahratta, became paramount; but a few 
years after, while engaged in a war with Pertalo Sing, of Jeypoor, 



lo8 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

advantage was taken of his absence by Gholan Kadir Kahn, the 
Rohilla, to obtain possession of Delhi and the Emperor. This he 
accomplished by the treachery of the Nazir, or chief eunuch, to 
whom the management of the imperial establishment was intrusted. 
The inmates of the palace were treated by the usurper with a 
degree of malicious barbarity which it is hardly possible to con- 
ceive any human being could evince toward his fellow-creatures, 
unless actually possessed by Satan, 

After cruelties of almost every description had been practiced, to 
extort from the members and retainers of the imperial family every 
article of value that still remained in their possession, Gholan 
Kadir continued to withhold from them even the necessaries of 
life, so that several ladies perished of hunger, and others, mad- 
dened by suffering, committed suicide. The royal children were 
compelled to perform the most humiliating offices ; and when at last 
the wretched Emperor ventured to remonstrate indignantly against 
the atrocities he was thus compelled to witness, the fierce Rohilla 
sprang at him with the fury of a wild beast, flung the venerable 
monarch to the ground, knelt on his breast, and, with his dagger, 
pierced his eye-balls through and through ! 

The return of Sindia terminated these terrible scenes. Gholan 
Kadir fled, but was followed and captured by the Mahratta chief, 
who cut off his nose, ears, hands, and feet, and sent him in an iron 
cage to the Emperor — a fearful, though not uncommon, example of 
Asiatic retributive barbarity. He perished on the road, and his 
accomplice, the treacherous Nazir, was condemned, and trodden to 
death by an elephant — a mode of execution long practiced at Delhi. ^ 

The condition of the imperial family, though ameliorated, 
remained barely tolerable during the supremacy of Sindia ; for 
the stated allowance for the support of the Emperor and his thirty 
children, though liberal in its nominal amount, was so irregularly 
paid that the imperial household often wanted the necessaries of 
life. 

The real authority of the Moguls had passed away, and it now 
became a question, Who shall seize the fallen scepter — some one 



THE FALLING DYNASTY. 1 09 

of these contending chiefs, or the English power, which had already 
established itself in the South and East of the country ? The lat- 
ter alone had the ability to give peace to the distracted land, and, 
at the same time, might be rehed upon to grant the most generous 
terms to the falling d}7nasty. Accordingly, on the loth of Septem- 
ber, 1803, Shah Alum, the last actual possessor of the once mighty 
throne of the Moguls, thankfully placed himself and his empire 
under the protection of the British commander, Lord Lake, and 
thus delivered himself from the cruelty and tyranny of his enemies. 

The General, on his entrance to the palace, found the Emperor 
" seated under a small tattered canopy, his person emaciated by 
indigence and infirmity, his countenance disfigured by the loss of 
his eyes, and bearing marks of extreme old age and settled melan- 
choly." The arrangements made with him, under the directions 
of the Marquis Wellesley, then English Governor-General, were, 
no doubt, far beyond in liberality what the poor old man could have 
expected. Of this more hereafter, in its place. 

The gigantic genius of Tamerlane, and the distinguished talentb 
of the great Akbar, with the magnificent taste of Jehan, have 
thrown a sort of splendor over the crimes and foHies of their 
descendants ; and men kept reverence for the ruins of such great- 
ness, and for the ideas which we have all associated in our child- 
hood with the boundless wealth and glory suggested by the title of 
" The Great Moguls." 

Under the new rule India began to return to peace, and such 
prosperity as was possible, with a still brighter day dawning upon 
her. Shah Alum enjoyed his honors and emoluments till 1806, 
when he was succeeded on his titular throne by his son. Shah 
Akbar, who held it until 1836, when its last possessor — the man 
whose portrait is here given — commenced his occupancy, and 
retained it till 1857, when a mad and hopeless infatuation led him 
to violate his treaty, and defy the power of the actual rulers of his 
empire, and precipitated him from the height to which his ambition 
had for a few weeks soared, into the depths of ignominious and 
unpitied exile. 



no THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

A few facts in explanation are necessary here. This monarch, 
Mohammed Suraj- oo-deen, succeeded his father in 1836. The 
father, at the instigation of one of his wives, the favorite Begum, 
had done his best to deprive his son of his inheritance, and to have 
her own son, Mirza Saleem, acknowledged as his successor by the 
British Government. To this injustice that Government would 
not consent ; so his rights were protected, and he mounted the 
throne of his ancestors. 

The beautiful steel engraving on the opposite page gives a faith- 
ful picture of the wife, or, rather, one of the wives, of this old 
gentleman — the last of " The Great Moguls." Her name is Zeenat 
Mahal — the Ornament of the Palace — which was conferred on her 
when she was married to the Emperor in 1833. She was then six- 
teen years of age, and he was sixty — a disparity by no means 
uncommon in a land where polygamy prevails, and where such 
prejudice exists against marrying a widow, no matter how young 
or fair she may be. Her sexagenarian husband had other wives 
than Zeenat Mahal, but the beautiful and ambitious girl soon 
gained a complete control over the mind and heart of her aged 
lord, and this was made all the more influential when she had 
added the claims of a mother to the attractions of a wife. 

Then commenced those intrigues, which she carried on up to the 
year 1856, to secure the succession to the throne for her child, 
Mirza Jumma Bukht, to the exclusion of Mirza Furruk-oo-deen, 
the elder son, whose prior claims the English Government recog- 
nized and sustained, as in duty bound. Her hostility to British 
influence, therefore, became intense ; and her hopes of gaining her 
object were identified with the efforts of the Sepoy conspiracy to 
overthrow the English power in India. Poor lady! she utterly 
failed ; and she and the son for whom every thing was risked are 
to-day wanderers in a foreign land, with the bitter reflection of the 
utter desolation which has overwhelmed the dynasty of which she 
thus became the last empress. She is the daughter of the Rajah 
of Bhatneer, a territory about one hundred and eighty miles north- 
west of Delhi. 



I ir '^ \'',\ I'.u I'Mi.iri I '7 .i"i"',ir 




' I 111 rlmM. 

,iiiijiihiii 'h ,i,'iii';'liii''!i''ii;\ii';''ii'i'iiii''i'f ' i''liJi'iiiiii|'fii'IW 



ill I 



I "I I iVu li^rifa 






Zeenat Mahal. Empress of Delhi. 



THE KHA8S AND THE MOGUL SINK TOGETHER 113 

The pictures of the Emperor and Empress here presented were 
painted on ivory by the Court portrait-painter twenty years ago, 
and are beautiful specimens of native art, and very correct Uke- 
nesses of them both. 

We will now turn from these royal persons to their home, and 
some of their splendid surroutidings ; and, first of all, let us look at 
their historical and beautiful Dewan Khass, There was something 
remarkably significant in the fact that the magnificent and famous 
Audience Hall of the Moguls should sink to ruin with the dynasty 
which had so long adorned it. For two hundred and fifty years 
they had shed luster upon each other ; but, when we remember 
the crimes which had so long cried to Heaven for vengeance from 
the polished floor of this marble hall, it did seem fitting that the 
Most High, who ruleth in the kingdoms of men, in the hour when 
their judgment came should, with the same blow, strike down both 
the Mogul line and their magnificent memorial. When their cup 
of iniquity was full, and their hands were red with Christian blood, 
then came the day of vengeance. 

It was my lot to be a witness of the wondrous ruin — to behold 
this imperial head of Oriental Mohammedanism, this " Light of the 
Faith," as he was designated, sinking into utter ruin and darkness ; 

" Falling, like Lucifer, 
Never to hope again." 

When I reached the Mogul capital of Hindustan, in the autumn 
of 1856, the Dewan Khass was still the center of state and pagean- 
try, and its imperial master living in Oriental style on his salary of 
eighteen lakhs of rupees — ^900,000 gold — per annum. Within one 
year from that day I was again in the Dewan Khass, where he 
used to sit in his gorgeous array, to witness his trial, and that of 
his princes and nobles, before a military commission of British 
officers, by whom he was condemned to be banished as a felon to 
a foreign shore for the remnant of his miserable hfe, there to sub- 
sist on a convict's allowance ; and within a few weeks after, when 
I again visited the once magnificent Dewan Khass, I found it 
despoiled of its glory, its marble halls and columns whitewashed. 



114 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and the whole turned into a hospital for sick soldiers ! Has the 
world ever witnessed a ruin more prompt, more complete, more 
amazing than this ? 

For seven hundred years the Mohammedan dynasties — of whom 
this wretched old man was the last representative — had tried to 
hold the reins of power over India, alien alike in race, language, 
and religion from the people whom they ruled. Mahmoud of 
Ghuznee— -a contemporary for five years of William the Con- 
queror — was the founder of this line of monarchs ; and yet such 
was their character, that when these long centuries of selfish and 
bigoted misrule were ending, and this old man was in circumstances 
that might well have evoked compassion and sympathy from those 
around him, he was allowed to sink out of sight, not only without 
regret or condolence, but amid the expressed sense of relief of the 
race over whom he and his ancestors had dominated — a people 
with whom they had ever refused to amalgamate, whom they had 
never tried to conciliate, and from whom his race never realized 
either loyalty or affection. 

It may be doubted if any royal line on earth has had such a sad 
record to present to the historian. Of the sixty-five monarchs who 
thus conquered and ruled India, only twenty-seven of the numbei 
died a natural death ; all the rest were either exiled, killed in battle, 
or assassinated, while the average length of each reign was only 
eleven years. Truly has it been said, " Delhi has been the stage 
of greatness — men the actors, ambition the prompter, and centuries 
the audience." It was my opportunity to come in at the close, and 
behold destruction drawing the curtain over the scene, and writing 
upon it the realized sentence, and the warning to the nations : 
" Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them 
in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings r 
be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, 
and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and 
ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." 

This was all the more significant, because the men by whose 
instrumentality God wrought out his purposes were the very race 



AECHITECTUBAL TASTE OF THE EMPER0B8. II5 

whose new monarchy opened with their own in the tenth century ; 
but a race who received the faith which those Mohammedans 
repelled and persecuted, and who have consequently risen to 
supremacy among the nations ; so that, while one portion of them 
rules the New World, the other inherits the empire of the fallen 
Moguls, and are there with confidence expecting that the promise 
of the Almighty shall ere long be made as true as his threatenings 
now consummated : " Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen 
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
possession." How expressively does the history of these eight hun- 
dred years declare, " Blessed are all they that put their trust in 
Him!" 

True religion was the only thing this guilty but magnificent race 
needed for perpetuity. No dynasty ever had a grander oppor- 
tunity than they — a rich land, the sixth of the world's population, 
boundless wealth, almost a millennium of time for the trial, with a 
civilization all their own, and a splendid cultivated taste, which they 
had the will and the ability to gratify to the utmost, as its memori- 
als in Agra, and Delhi, and elsewhere, attest, to the surprise and 
delight of the traveler and tourist from many lands. 

The Emperor Shah Jehan — A. D. 1627 — alone, for his portion, 
laid out in Alipoor the celebrated Gardens of Shalimar, at a cost 
of ^5,000,000. They were about two miles and a half in cir- 
cumference, and were almost like Paradise in beauty. He then 
built the world-renowned Taj Mahal, expending upon it nearly 
$60,000,000, the present value of money. He also erected the 
Dewan Khass, the most gorgeous audience hall in the East. This 
latter we here illustrate. 

This imperial hall was a gorgeous accessory of the Palace of 
Delhi. The front opened on a large quadrangle, and the whole 
stood in what was once a garden, extremely rich and beautiful. 
This unique pavilion rested on an elevated terrace, and was formed 
entirely of white marble. It was one hundred and fifty feet long, 
and forty in breadth, having a graceful cupola at each angle. The 
roof was supported on colonnades of marble pillars. The solid and 



ii6 THE Land of the veba. 

polished marble has been worked into its forms with as much deli- 
cacy as though it had been wax, and its whole surface, pillars, 
wails, arches, and roof, and even the pavement, was inlaid with the 
richest, most profuse, and exquisite designs in foliage and ara- 
besque ; the fruits and flowers being represented in sections of 
gems, such as amethysts, carnelian, blood-stone, garnet, topaz, 
lapis lazuli, green serpentine, and various colored crystals. A bor- 
dering ran around the walls and columns similarly decorated, inlaid 
with inscriptions in Arabic from the Koran. The whole had the 
appearance of some rich work from the loom, in which a brilliant 
pattern is woven on a pure white ground, the tracery of rare and 
cunning artists. Purdahs (curtains) of all colors and designs hung 
from the crenated arches on the outside to exclude the glare and 
heat. (These purdahs are omitted in the engraving for the sake 
of the interior view.) 

In the center of the hall stood the Takt Taous, or Peacock 
Throne, of Shah Jehan, on the erection of which Price's History 
tells us he expended thirty millions sterling, (^150,000,000.) This 
wondrous work of art was ascended by steps of silver, at the sum- 
mit of which rose a massive seat of pure gold, with a canopy of the 
same metal inlaid with jewels. The chief feature of the design 
was a peacock with his tail spread, the natural colors being repre- 
sented by pure gems. A vine also was introduced into the design, 
the leaves and fruit of which were of precious stones, whose rays 
were reflected from mirrors set in large pearls. Beneath all this 
" glory " sat the Great Mogul. 

No wonder that the fame of this wealth and extravagance should 
attract the notice and cupidity of a man like Nadir Shah, the Per- 
sian, who, in 1739, invaded Hindustan, and carried off this Pea- 
cock Throne among his trophies. His estimate of it may be 
understood from the fact that he had a tent constructed to contain 
it, the outside of which was covered with scarlet broadcloth and 
the inside of violet-colored satin, on which birds and beasts, trees 
and flowers, were depicted in precious stones. On either side of 
the Peacock Throne a screen was extended, adorned with the fig- 




iiiiii 



f 



TEE BLUNDER IN LALLA BO ORE. 119 

ures of two angels, also represented in various colored gems. 
Even the tent-poles were adorned with jewels, and the pins were 
of massive gold. The whole formed a load for several elephants. 
The gorgeous trophy was afterward broken up by Adil Shah, the 
nephew and successor of the captor. Its place in the Dewan 
Khass was afterward supplied by another of inferior value, and by 
(he Crystal Throne, which the writer saw in 1857. 

Inside of the entrance of the Khass, inscribed in black letters 
upon a slab of alabaster, is the Persian couplet, in the hyperbol- 
ical language of the East, quoted by Moore in his Lalla Rookh. 

" If there be an elysium on earth, 
It is this, it is this." 

Moore introduces it in "The Light of the Harem," where the 
Emperor Jehangeer and his beloved and beautiful Nourmahal, in 
their visit to the Valley of Cashmere, happen to fall into a sort of 
lovers' quarrel, and in the evening she vails herself, and takes her 
place among the beautiful female singers who have come to enter- 
tain the reclining Emperor — one of whom seems disposed to avail 
herself of the opportunity to attract the wounded and wandering 
love of Jehangeer in a wrong direction, when the vailed Nourma- 
hal, at the pause, strikes her lute and sings sweetly : 

" There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told, 

When two that are linked in one heavenly tie, 
With heart never changing, and brow never cold, 

Love on through all ills, and love on till they die I 
One hour of a passion so sacred is worth 

Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss ; 
And O, if there be an elysium on earth. 

It is this, it is this ! " 

Jehangeer's heart is touched, and there ensues a happy recon- 
ciliation. Unfortunately, however, for the poet, there is an anach- 
ronism here, and a violation of historic truth, as well as an inade- 
quate translation, for Shah Jehan, who built the Dewan Khass, and 
inscribed the words on the slab of alabaster over the entrance, was 
the son of Jehangeer, and it is not likely that his father's wife 
could quote the words before they were composed. Moore's 



I20 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

picture of Jehangeer and Nourmahal is the very reverse of what 
truthful history, corroborated by the personal observation of Sir 
Thomas Roe, tells us of that cruel sot and his talented but unprin- 
cipled Empress. And she could cherish but little true love for 
the man that had her noble husband, Sheer Afghan, so basely 
assassinated in order to gain possession of her person. 

It is a pity that poetry should be so often perverted and its ele- 
gancies made to adorn the unworthy and the vile. Nevertheless, 
we know that "the judgments of God are according to truth," and 
we see here that no wealth, or power, or magnificence, or human 
adulation, can shield the guilty when the inevitable hand of the 
Divine verdict has come. 

"Elysium" is too European, too Northern, a term to express 
Shah Jehan's word. But Moore, for a good part of his life a 
Romanist, may have thought the term over-biblical for his use, and 
chose the heathen phrase "elysium" in preference to the plain 
rendering of the word. The inscription runs exactly as follows, 
expressed in English letters : 

" Ugur Firdousi ba-roo-i-zameen ust, 
Ameen ust, ameen ust, ameen ust." , 

And the rendering is : 

" If there be a paradise on the face of the earth. 
This is it, this is it, this is it 1 " 

(The original Persian may be found quoted by Dr. Clarke in his 
Commentary on Nehemiah i, verse 8.) 

In or near Persia was the region of Paradise, and the fame of 
the first garden, planted by God, near the banks of the Euphrates, 
lingered as a tradition in its own vicinity for four thousand years, 
and led to those imitations of it in the " paradises of Oriental des- 
pots." Most of the invasions of India were from the regions of 
the ancient Eden, and the invaders carried with them their laeas 
of paradise to the land of the Ganges, and tried to reproduce them 
there. This Dewan Khass was the central object of the most 
costly one ever planted in India, or perhaps anywhere else. 



PARADISE AND ITS PRIVILEGES. I2I 

Standing in the midst of it, how easy it seemed to transport 
one's self in thought to that similar scene mentioned in the book of 
Esther i, 4, 7, where, nearly five hundred years before Christ, 
Ahasuerus, the Persian, " who reigned from India even unto Ethi- 
opia," displayed his magnificence during the seven days' feast " in 
the court of the garden of the king's palace, where were white, 
green, and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine Hnen and 
purple to silver rings and pillars of marble ; the beds [or seats] 
were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and 
v/hite, and black marble." Verses 5 and 6. 

As Dr. Clarke has remarked, the term paradise "is applied to 
denote splendid apartments, as well as fine gardens ; in a word, any 
place of pleasure and delight." And is not this exactly the idea 
of the paradise described in the twenty-first and twenty-second 
chapters of Revelation — the golden city, with its jasper walls 
and gates of pearl, in the midst of the garden of God, with the 
river of the water of life, clear as crystal, and the tree of life yield- 
ing its fruit every month .'' 

In speaking of it Jesus says, " In my Father's house are many 
mansions." " I go to prepare a place for you." " They shall walk 
with me in white." " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of 
the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." 
How Oriental are all these thoughts ! I have seen the princely 
Asiatic host, with his guests around him in their white flowing 
robes, moving through his beautiful garden, as he entertained them 
with his fellowship, with music, and the freest use of the bounties 
around them ; and the earthly scene has been a vivid image of 
what the heavenly paradise will be to the redeemed, when they 
shall find themselves at last in the garden of God, with Jesus as 
their host, having the right of entrance to his glorious audience 
hall, and the amazing honor of sitting down with him upon his 
sapphire throne, in the presence of the host of heaven ! See 
Exod. xxiv, 10; Ezek. i, 26; Rev. iii, 21. 

The crown worn on the head of the Great Mogul was worthy of 
the Khass and the throne on which he sat. It was made by the 



122 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

great Akbar, in the fashion of that worn by the Persian kings, and 
was of extraordinary beauty and magnificence. It had twelve 
points, each surmounted by a diamond of the purest water, while 
the central point terminated in a single pearl of extraordinary size, 
the whole, including many valuable rubies, being estimated at a 
cost equivalent to ;^2, 070,000 sterling, or ^10,350,000. Add one 
thing more, the KoJi-i-noor diamond, on his brow, and you have 
the Mogul " in all his glory," as he sat on the Peacock Throne in 
his Dewan Khass, surrounded by Mohammedan princes, by tur- 
baned and jeweled rajahs, amid splendor which only " the gorgeous 
East" could furnish, and the fame of which seemed to the poor 
courts of Europe of that day like a tale of the Arabian Nights. 

Soon the Portuguese were found making their way around "the 
Cape of Storms " into the Indian Ocean, and thence to the capital 
of the Moguls. James I. of England, in 161 5, sent as his embas- 
sador Sir Thomas Roe, whose chaplain has left us a record of the 
embassy in A Voyage to the East Indies. Sir Thomas felt keenly 
the contrast afforded by the unpretending character of the presents 
and retinue with which his royal master had provided him, to the 
magnificent ceremonial which he daily witnessed, and in which he 
was permitted to take part. He remained two years at Jehan- 
geer's Court. One of the greatest displays occurred on the Em- 
perors birthday, when, amid the ceremonies, the royal person was 
weighed in golden scales twelve times against gold, silver, per- 
fumes, and other valuables, the whole of which were then divided 
among the spectators. His description of the splendors of the 
scene sounds like the veriest romance. 

On one of the pillars of the Audience Hall is shown the mark of 
the dagger of the Hindoo Prince of Chittore, who, in the very pres- 
ence of the Emperor, stabbed to the heart one of the Mohammedan 
ministers, who made use of some disrespectful language toward him. 
On being asked how he presumed to do this in tne presence of his 
sovereign, he answered in almost the very words of Roderic Dhu, 

" I right my wrongs where they are given, 
Though it were in the court of Heaven." 



INQUISITION FOR BLOOD. 1 25 

Alas ! what scenes of perfidy and blood have been witnessed 
within the walls of this Dewan Khass ! Sleeman and others have 
narrated some of them, but the half has not been told, and all are 
only known to Heaven. The last of them, in 1857, exhausted the 
patience of the Almighty, and the dynasty and their Khass were 
destroyed by that "stone" which then fell upon them, and ground 
them to powder. 

Here in this hall, which he himself had built, sat the great Shah 
Jehan, obliged to receive the insolent commands of his own grand- 
son, Mohammed, when flushed with victory, and to offer him the 
throne, merely to disappoint the expectations of the youth's rebel 
father. Here sat Aurungzebe — Shah Jehan's fourth son — when 
he ordered the assassination of his own brothers, Dara and Morad, 
and the imprisonment and destruction by slow poison of his own 
son Mohammed, who had so often fought bravely by his side in 
battle. Here, too, stood in chains the graceful Sooleeman, to 
receive his sentence of death, with his poor young brother. Sipeher 
Shekoh, who had shared all his father's toils and dangers, and wit- 
nessed his brutal murder. And here sat the handsome, but effem- 
inate, Mohammed Shah, in March, 1739, bandying compliments 
with his ferocious conqueror. Nadir Shah, the Persian King, who 
had destroyed his armies, plundered his treasury, appropriated his 
throne, and ordered the murder of nearly one hundred thousand of 
the helpless inhabitants of his capital, men, women, and children, 
in a general massacre. The bodies of these people lay unburied 
in the streets, tainting the air, while the two sovereigns sat here 
sipping their coffee in the presence of their courtiers, and swearing 
to the most deliberate lies in the name of their God, prophet, and 
Koran ! 

Sleeman relates that on this occasion the coffee was brought 

into the Dewan Khass upon a golden salver, and delivered to the 

two sovereigns by the most polished gentleman of Mohammed 

Shah's Court. Precedence and public courtesies are, in the East, 

managed and respected with a tenacity and importance that to us 

of the Western world seems positively ridiculous. 
9 



126 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Nevertheless, they are vital to the Oriental, and life or death 
have often hung upon their manifestations. All present on this 
occasion felt its significance. The movements of the officer, as he 
entered the gorgeous apartment, amid the splendid trains of the 
two Emperors, were watched with great anxiety ; if he presented 
the coffee first to his own master, the furious conqueror, befoie 
whom the sovereign of India and all his courtiers trembled, might 
order him to instant execution ; if he presented it to Nadir first, 
he would certainly insult his own sovereign out of fear of the 
stranger. To the astonishment of all, he walked up, with a steady 
step, direct to his own master. " I cannot," said he, " aspire to the 
honor of presenting the cup to the king of kings, your majesty's 
honored guest, nor would your majesty wish that any hand but 
your own should do so." The Emperor took the cup from the 
golden salver, and presented it to Nadir Shah, who said with a 
smile as he took it : " Had all your officers known and done their 
duty like this man, you had never, my good cousin, seen me and 
my Kuzul Bashus at Delhi. Take care of him for your own sake, 
and get around you as many like him as you can." 

All these are now dust — the oppressor and the oppressed gone 
to their account before God ; but the spirit of bigotry, and reckless- 
ness of human suffering and life, engendered by the Moslem creed, 
clung to the place until its gems ceased to shine, and its glory was 
extinguished forever. For here, too, sat its last occupant — this 
man whose portrait we present, Mohammed Suraj-oo-deen — on the 
I2th of May, 1857, and issued those orders under which England's 
embassador and his chaplain, with .every Christian whom they 
could find in Delhi, male and female, native or European, were 
butchered amid barbarities the enormity of which has never been 
exceeded by any of the edicts of cruelty which have gone forth, 
even from the Dewan Khass. 

Humanity heaves a sigh of relief to know that this is the last. 
The house of Tamerlane is no more ; their Dewan Khass is in 
ruins ; their pomp, and glory, and power, have gone down to the 
grave forever. 



THE FIEST SIGHT OF THE TAJ. 1 29 

From these, with all their crimes, changes, and sufferings, we 
turn now to the peaceful and lovely monument which is India's 
architectural glory, and one of earth's great wonders — the exist- 
ence of which is probably the only valid apology remaining for the 
vast revenues squandered by these irresponsible despots during so 
many hundred years. 

About six miles before the traveler reaches the city of Agra the 
dome and minarets of the world-renowned Taj Mahal burst upon 
his view from behind a grove of fruit-trees near the road. The 
effect is wonderful ! The long-anticipated pleasure of beholding 
earth's most beautiful shrine is now within his reach, and the grat- 
ified and delighted sight rests upon this first view of its harmony 
of parts, its faultless congregation of architectural beauties, with a 
kind of ecstasy. Of the thousands who have traveled far to gaze 
upon it, it may safely be asserted that not one of the number has 
been disappointed in the examination of its wondrous beauty. The 
Queen of Sheba would probably have admitted, had she seen it, 
that the " half had not been told her." 

We first look at it from the north side, on the river bank, where 
the scene is fully presented. The building to the right of the Taj 
is a Mosque for religious services, and that to the left is a Travelers' 
Rest House, where visitors can be accommodated. We next go 
around to the gate of entrance on the other side. The inclosure, 
including the gardens and outer court, is a parallelogram of one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty feet by more than one thousand 
feet, with a system of fountains, eighty-four in number, along the cen- 
tral avenue, and a marble reservoir in the middle about forty feet 
square, in which are five additional fountains, one in the center, and 
one at each corner. On either side of this beautiful sheet of water, 
into which are falling the silvery jets of spray from the fountains, are 
rows of dark Italian cypress, significant of the great design of the 
shrine. The river Jumna flows mildly by, and the birds, encour- 
aged by the delicious coolness and shade of the place, forget their 
usual lassitude, and pour forth their songs, while the odor of roses, 
and of the orange, and lemon, and tamarind trees, perfume the air. 



I30 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Amid all this loveliness the Taj rises before your view, upon an 
elevated terrace of white and yellow marble, about thirty feet in 
height, and having a graceful minaret at each corner. On either 
side are the beautiful Mosque and the Rest House, facing inward, 
and corresponding exactl} with each other in size, design, and 
execution. That on the left side is the one used for service, as it 
allows the faces of the worshipers to be set toward the tomb of 
their prophet, to the west, at Mecca. The one to the right is used 
for the accommodation of visitors who come from various parts of 
the world to enjoy this great sight, and who here receive free quar- 
ters as long as they choose to remain. 

From the center of this great platform springs up the Taj itself 
A detailed description of its general appearance is rendered unnec- 
essary, as our readers have that before them in the beautiful 
engraving here given. The mausoleum itself, the terrace upon 
which it stands, and the minarets, are all formed of the finest white 
marble, inlaid with precious stones. The marble was brought from 
the Jeypore territory, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, 
and the sandstone for the walls, from Dholepore and Futtehpcre 
Secree. A Persian manuscript, preserved in the Taj, professes to 
give a full account of the stones and materials used in its construc- 
tion. The white marble was brought from Jeypore, the yellow 
marble from the Nerbudda, the black from Charkoh, crystal from 
China, jasper from the Punjab, carnelian from Bagdad, turquoises 
from Thibet, agate from Yemen, lapis lazuli from Ceylon, diamonds 
from Punah, rockspar from the Nerbudda, loadstone from Gwalior, 
amethyst and onyx from Persia, chalcedony from Villiat, and sap- 
phires from Lanka — and this does not exhaust the list. 

The dome, " shining like an enchanted castle of burnished 
silver," is seventy feet in diameter, the Taj itself is two hundred 
and forty-five feet in altitude, and the cullice, or golden spire on 
the summit, is thirty feet more, making a height of two hundred 
and seventy-five feet from the terrace to the golden crescent. 

It is asserted that the whole of the Koran is inlaid upon the 
building in the Arabic language, the letters being beautifully formed 



THE TAJ A MAUSOLEUM. 133 

in black marble on the outside, and in precious stones within. 
Nearly all the external ornamentation which the reader sees in the 
engraving are these texts. 

The writer's earnest desire is, that his description may in some 
measure be worthy of the pictures ; yet, though conscious of 
having done his best, and venturing to assert that he has here 
brought together the most complete account of the Taj that has 
yet appeared, still he realizes to himself how tame and imperfect is 
any effort to convey to those who never had the privilege of seeing 
it an adequate idea of what its beauty really is, or of the effect it 
produces upon the mind of the beholder as he stands within its 
sacred inclosure and realizes its loveliness as fully displayed before 
him. Like piety, or Hke heaven, it may be said of the beauty of 
the Taj, that " no man knoweth it save him that receiveth it." Let 
our readers judge of this enthusiasm by the views before them, and 
by what follows. 

The beautiful wood-cut opposite, presenting the view of the gate 
of the Taj, and the steel engraving which follows, are both made 
from photographs of the originals, taken in India, so that our 
readers may be assured that they have here before them the most 
perfect and worthy representation of this matchless structure that 
has ever appeared. 

The Taj is a mausoleum, built by the Great Mogul, Shah Jehan, 
over his beautiful Empress. It is situated in the midst of a garden 
of vast extent and beauty, three miles from Agra. The entrance 
to the garden is through the gateway here shown. This superb 
entrance is of red sandstone, inlaid with ornaments and with texts 
from the Koran in white marble, and is itself a palace, both as 
regards its magnitude and its decoration. The lofty walls that 
surround the garden are of the same material, having arched colon- 
nades running around the interior, and giving an air of magnifi- 
cence to the whole inclosure. The garden is laid out with rich 
taste Its paths are paved with slabs of freestone, arranged in 
fanciful devices. Noble trees, affording a delightful shade and 
pleasant walks, even in the middle of the day, are planted in sufB- 



134 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

dent number through the various spaces, while the fruit-trees, with 
the graceful palm, the banyan, and the feathery bamboo, mingle 
their foliage, and are ornamented by the sweet-scented tamarind 
and by flowers of the loveliest hue, which bloom in profusion 
around. 

It is difficult to determine whether the exterior or the interior is 
the more fascinating ; each has its own matchless claim, and each is 
perfect in its loveliness. Externally, the best times to see the Taj 
are by sunrise or by moonlight. The midday sun shining upon its 
polished surface is too brilliant for the eye to bear with satisfaction : 
for a position from whence to view it, the gallery on the top of 
the entrance-gate inside is decidedly the best point of observation 
An hour before the sun rises you may see persons taking their 
places in that gallery, and there, elevated about sixty feet, they 
wait for the opening day, and the effect produced is thus well 
described : " The gray light of morning had not yet appeared when 
we reached the Taj and made our way up to the top of the gate, to 
look upon it as it gradually grew into shape and form at the bid- 
ding of the rising sun. The moon had just hidden her face beneath 
the western horizon, and the darkness was at its deepest, presaging 
the approaching break of day. We looked down upon the immense 
inclosure crowded with trees mingled together in one undistin- 
guishable mass, gently surging and moaning in the night breeze. 
Above rose, apparently in the distance, a huge gray-blue mass, 
without shape or form, which rested like a cloud on the gloomy sea 
of foliage. Soon a faint glimmer of light appeared in the eastern 
horizon ; as the darkness fled away before its gradually increasing 
power, the cloud changed first to a light blue, and then developed 
into shape and proportion ; and the minarets, and the cupolas, and 
dome defined themselves in clearer lines upon the still dark sky 
beyond. Soon the first rosy tint of the dawn appeared, and as if 
by magic the whole assumed a roseate hue, which increased as the 
sun made its appearance, and the Taj stood before us, dazzlingly 
brilliant in the purest white, absolutely perfect in its fairy propor- 
tions. It is impossible to describe it. I had heard of perfection 




The Taj Mahal. 



THE TAJ SEEN BY MOONLIGHT. 137 

of outline and of graceful symmetry of proportion, but never real- 
ized the true meaning of the words until the morning when I 
watched the Taj burst into loveliness at the touch of the sun's 

magic wand." 

Under the softened light of the moon the beautiful structure 
develops fresh beauties. The dazzhng effect has ceased, and you 
gaze upon every part of it as it appears bathed in a soft amber- 
light that seems to enter your own soul and impart its peace and 
serenity till you wonder that outside these walls there can be a 
world of sin, and strife, and sorrow. You are conscious of aban- 
doning yourself to the delightful, if brief, enjoyment of that poetic 
and mental peace which the charming scene was designed to pro- 
duce upon the beholder. 

Let us now enter the wonderful shrine itself, and gaze upon 
its internal beauty. Before entering the central hall we descend 
to the vault below, where the real sarcophagi are, in which lie the 
remains of the Emperor and Empress. Her tomb occupies the 
very center, and his is by her side. The light is made to fall 
directly upon her tomb, which is of white marble and beautifully 
decorated. But the especial splendor is reserved for the tombs in 
the rotunda above, directly over these, and which, as it were, offi- 
cially represent them. 

We ascend to them, and stand amid a scene of architectural 
glory which has no equal on earth. Above us rises the lofty dome, 
far up into the dim distance. The floor on which we tread is of 
polished marble and jasper, ornamented with a wainscoating of 
sculptured marble tablets inlaid with flowers formed of precious 
stones. Around are windows or screens of marble filigree, richly 
wrought in various patterns, which admit a faint and delicate 
illumination— what Ritualists would love to call " a dim, religious 
iight"— into the gorgeous apartment. In the center are the two 
tombs, surrounded by a magnificent octagonal screen about six feet 
high, with doors on the sides. The open tracery in this white 
marble screen is wrought into beautiful flowers, such as lilies, 
irises, and others, and the borders of the screen are inlaid with 



138 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

precious stones, representing flowers, executed with such wonder- 
ful perfection that the forms wave as in nature, and the hues and 
shades of the stems, leaves, and flowers appear as real almost as 
the beauties which they represent 

These ornamental designs are so carefully and exquisitely exe- 
cuted that several of the flowers have as many as eighty different 
stones entering into their composition, all polished uniform with 
the marble, into which they are so delicately inserted that you can 
hardly trace their joinings. They seem as though they had grown 
there, instead of being separately prepared and placed in their 
positions by the hands of the " cunning workman," who designed 
and executed this imperishable and magnificent memorial of human 
love. 

But the richest work of all is on the cenotaph of the Empress 
within the screen. Upon her tomb — according to universal Moham- 
medan usage — is a slate or tablet of marble, while on the Emperor's 
is a small box representing a pen-holder. These always distin- 
guish a man's or a woman's grave among these people ; the idea 
being that a woman's heart is a tablet on which lordly man can 
write whatever pleases him best. And this mark of feminine 
inferiority was not spared even the beloved occupant of the Taj 
Mahal. 

But her tomb — how beautiful ! The snow-white marble is inlaid 
with flowers so delicately formed that they look like embroidery on 
white satin, so exquisitely is the mosaic executed in carnelian, 
blood-stone, agates, jasper, turquoise, lapis lazuli, and other precious 
stones. Thirty-five different specimens of carnelian are employed 
in forming a single leaf of a carnation ; and in one flower, not 
larger than a silver dollar, as many as twenty-three different stones 
can be counted. Yet these are but specimens of the beauties that 
are spread in unparalleled profusion over this entire chamber. 
Indeed, Long asserts that he found one flower upon her tomb to 
be composed of no less than three hundred different stones. 

Her name and date of death, with her virtuous qualities, are 
recorded in the same costly manner, in gems of Arabic — the sacred 



REMARKABLE EFFECT OF SOFT MUSIC. 1 39 

language of the Mohammedans — on the side of her tomb. There 
are other inscriptions upon it, which we will hereafter refer to when 
we come to examine who this lady was that was thus honored in 
death beyond all her sex. 

The Emperor's tomb is plainer than the other, has no passages 
from the Koran, but merely a similar mosaic work of flowers, and 
his name, with the date of his death, upon it. 

Over all this richness and beauty rises the magnificent dome, 
which is so constructed as to contain an echo more pure, and pro- 
longed, and harmonious than any other in the world, so far as 
known. A competent judge has declared, " Of all the complicated 
music ever heard on earth, that of a flute played gently in the vault 
below, where the remains of the Emperor and his consort repose, 
as the sound rises to the dome amid a hundred arched alcoves 
around, and descends in heavenly reverberations upon those who 
sit or recline on the cenotaphs above, is perhaps the finest to an 
inartificial ear. We feel as if it were from heaven, and breathed 
by angels. It is to the ear what the building itself is to the eye ; 
but unhappily it cannot, like the building, live in our recollections. 
All that we can in after life remember is, that it was heavenly and 
produced heavenly emotions." An enthusiast thus more glowingly 
describes it : " Now take your seat upon the marble pavement 
beside the upper tombs, and send your companion to the vault 
underneath to run slowly over the notes of his flute or guitar. 
Was ever melody like this } It haunts the air above and around. 
It distills in showers upon the polished marble. It condenses into 
the mild shadows, and sublimes into the softened, hallowed light 
of the dome. It rises, it falls ; it swims mockingly, meltingly 
around. It is the very element with which sweet dreams are 
builded. It is the melancholy echo of the past — it is the bright, 
delicate harping of the future. It is the atmosphere breathed by 
Ariel, and playing around the fountain of Chindara. It is the spirit 
of the Taj, the voice of inspired love, which called into being this 
peerless wonder of the world, and elaborated its symmetry and 
composed its harmony, and, eddying around its young minarets 



I40 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and domes, blended them without a line into the azure of 
immensity." 

Let us imagine, if we can, the effect produced here when the 
funeral dirge was chanted over the tomb of the lovely Empress, and 
the answering echoes, in the pauses of the strains, would seem to 
fall like the responses of angel choirs in paradise ! 

Princely provision was made by the gifted originator of the Taj 
for its care and services. The light that fell upon that tomb day 
and night was from perfumed oil in golden lamps ; fresh gar- 
lands of nature's flowers were laid upon it daily ; Mogul musicians 
furnished appropriate music ; five times in each twenty-four hours 
the Muezzin's cry to prayers resounded from these minarets ; and a 
eunuch of high station, with two thousand Sepoys under his orders, 
held watch and ward without ceasing over the entire place and all 
its approaches. None but men of Mohammedan faith were per- 
mitted to come within these precincts, or to draw near her tomb ; 
and the entire shrine was by the Emperor's orders expressly held 
sacred from the approach of any Christian foot. 

Arrangements were made for occasionally exhibiting its loveli- 
ness by light adequate to bring out its perfect beauty. Rests were 
provided on the eight corners of the shrine for blue or Bengal 
lights, and when these were simultaneously fired, as the writer has 
seen them, the effect was magical. The candles had been pre- 
viously extinguished and the building left in total darkness, when, 
at the signal, the brilliant illumination burst forth, and every point 
and ornament, even to the top of the rich dome itself, was dis- 
played more gloriously than the light of day could ever have exhib- 
ited their rich colors. The inlaid ornamentation and filagree of 
the scenes, now like transparent and delicate lace-work, all seemed, 
to the astonished vision, like a palace of enchantment, and the 
mind of the beholder was awed into homage of that rare intellect 
which could devise and execute this the most beautiful monument 
on which the human eye can ever gaze on earth ! 

Perhaps no one has ever rendered such perfect justice to the 
beauty of this mausoleum as the unnamed author quoted by 



TEE TAJ MATCHLESS. 141 

Stocqueler. He thus sketches it : "I have been to visit the Taj. 
I have returned full of emotion. My mind is enriched with visions 
of ideal beauty. When first I approached the Taj, eleven years 
ago, I was disappointed. In after days, when my admiration for 
the loveliness of this building had grown into a passion, I 
often inquired why this should have been .■' And the only answer 
I can find is, that the symmetry is too perfect to strike at first. It 
meets you as the most natural of objects. It, therefore, does not 
startle, and you return from it disappointed that you have not been 
startled. But it grows upon you in all the harmony of its propor- 
tions, in all the exquisite delicacy of its adornment, and at each 
glance some fresh beauty or grace is developed. And, besides, it 
stands so much alone in the world of beauty. Imagination has 
never conceived a second Taj, nor had any thing similar ever before 
occurred to it. 

" View the Taj at a distance ! It is as the spirit of some happy 
dream, dwelling dim, but pure, upon the horizon of your hope, and 
reigning in virgin supremacy over the visible circle of the earth and 
sky. Approach it nearer, and its grandeur appears unlessened by 
the acuteness of its fabric, and swelling in all its fresh and fairy har- 
mony until you are at a loss for feelings worthy of its presence. 
Approach still nearer, and that which, as a whole, has proved so 
charming, is found to be equally exquisite in the minutest detail. 
Here are no mere touches for distant effect. Here is no need to 
place the beholder in a particular spot to cast a partial light upon 
the performance ; the work which dazzles with its elegance at the 
coup d' ml will bear the scrutiny of the miscroscope ; the sculpture 
of the panels, the fretwork and mosaic of the screen, the elegance 
of the marble pavement, the perfect finish of every jot and iota, are 
as if the meanest architect had been one of those potent genii who 
were of yore compelled to adorn the palaces of necromancers and 
kings. 

" We feel, as our eye wanders around this hallowed space, that 

we have hitherto lavished our language and admiration in vain. 

We dread to think of it with feelings which workmanship less 
10 



142 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

exquisite has awakened, and we dare not use, in its praise, lan- 
guage hackneyed in the service of every-day minds. We seek for 
it a new train of associations, a fresh range of ideas, a greener and 
more sacred corner in the repository of the heart. And yet, where- 
fore should this be, since no terms applying to other works of beauty, 
excepting the most general, can be appropriated here } For those 
there be phrases established by usage, which their several classifi- 
cations of style render intelligible to all acquainted with similar 
works of art. But in the Taj we fall upon a new and separate cre- 
ation, which never can become a style, since it can never be imi- 
tated. It is like some bright and newly discovered winged thing, 
all beauteous in a beauty peculiar to itself, and referable to no class 
or order on the roll of zoology, which the whole world flocks to 
gaze upon with solemn delight, none presuming to designate the 
lovely stranger, nor to conjecture a kindred for it with the winged 
things of the earth. Suffice it — Love was its author, Beauty its 
inspiration." 

There never was erected in this world any thing so perfect and 
lovely, save Solomon's Temple. In gazing down upon the scene, 
as the writer did in the closing days of the terrible rebellion in 
1858, the effect was wonderful, and akin to those emotions that 
must thrill the soul which looks out for the first time upon the 
plains of heaven. Every thing that could remind one of ruin and 
misery seemed so far away, that as we sat, and the delighted eyes 
drank in the scene before them, terminated by the gorgeous fane 
as it rose up toward the blue and cloudless sky, we thought, if John 
Bunyan could have shared the opportunity, he would surely have 
imagined his dreams realized, and believed himself looking over the 
battlements of the New Jerusalem, and viewing that "region of 
eternal day " where holiness and peace are typified by pearls and 
gold, and all manner of precious stones, with the fountain of life, 
clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb ! 
Two questions now remain to be answered : Who was the lady 
to whom the Taj was erected .'' and, Who was the architect who 
designed and executed it .-' 



FOR WHOM WAS THE TAJ EBECTED? 1 43 

There has been much misunderstanding upon these subjects. 
The wrong lady has been named by authors who might have 
understood better, had they consulted the proper authorities, and it 
has also been asserted that the architect was unknown. Bayard 
Taylor, for instance, in his India, China, and Japan, informs his 
readers that " Shah Jehan — the ' Selim ' of Moore's poem — erected 
it as a mausoleum to his Queen Noor Jehan, the ' Light of the 
World,' " and he several times repeats this blunder. Mr. Taylor is 
not profound in Indian history. Every statement in the above 
quotation is incorrect. The Selim of Moore's poem was not Shah 
Jehan, but his father ; Noor Jehan was not Shah Jehan's wife, but 
his stepmother ; and Noor Jehan was not buried in the Taj, but 
beyond the Attock, in the North-west, where her tomb is to-day a 
mere ruin. That Bayard Taylor should write in this superficial 
style is not very unusual with him : but that such authors as Mont- 
gomery Martin and Bishop Heber should say it was for Noor 
Jehan is indeed surprising : for they had acquaintance with the 
history of India, and had not to depend upon ignorant guides and 
o-uide books for the information they would give their readers 

Our description of Etmad-od-Doulah's Tomb will present the 
facts, showing that the infant born in the desert afterward became 
the wife, first of Sheer Afghan, and then of Prince Selim, after he 
mounted the throne, taking the name of Jehangeer, when he con- 
ferred upon her the title of Noor Jehan. These were the hero and 
heroine of Moore's poem. Shah Jehan, who built the Taj, was the 
son of Jehangeer by a different wife than Noor Jehan. Noor 
Jehan's brother, Asuf Jan, had a daughter whom Shah Jehan 
married, and to whom he gave the title of Moomtaj-i-Mahal, and it 
was to her memory that he built the Taj, long after his father was 
dead, and while he held his stepmother, Noor Jehan — who died in 
1646 — in a state of honorable captivity. Moomtaj-i-Mahal died in 
163 1, fifteen years before her aunt, Noor Jehan. 

The history of Moomtaj is very interesting, and we may give a 
few of the facts here. She was very beautiful, and obtained an 
unbounded influence over the mind of the Emperor, exhibiting 



144 THE LANL OF THE VEDA. 

such capacity for the management of State affairs, that her husband 
seems for years to have resigned the reins of government into 
her hands, while he was consuming his time over the wine bottle 
in the company of a favorite French physician. 

From this dream of pleasure, the history tells us, Shah Jehan 
was suddenly awakened by the fatal illness of his beautiful Empress. 
She died in giving birth to a daughter, who is said to have been 
heard crying in the womb by herself and her other daughters. 
She sent for the Emperor, and told him that she believed no 
mother had ever been known to survive the birth of a child so 
heard, and that she felt her end was near, " She had," she said, 
" only two requests to make : first, that he would not marry again 
after her death, and have children to contend with hers for his 
favors and dominions ; and, secondly, that he would build for her 
the tomb with which he had promised to perpetuate her name." 
Both her dying requests were granted. Her tomb was commenced 
immediately. No woman ever pretended to supply her place in the 
palace, nor had Shah Jehan children by any other. 

But Moomtaj might well, in her dying hours, make the request 
she did, for she could not be ignorant that Shah Jehan had secured 
the throne to himself, from the other children of his father, by the 
use of the dagger and the bov/-string. And it was not without 
reason ; for before she was many years laid in the Taj her own 
children, even, contended for the throne ; and the magnificent Shah 
Jehan, realizing that " as he had done so God rewarded him," died 
in prison in 1666, a captive in the hands of his son, Aurungzebe, 
who had already followed the example of his father in hunting 
down and destroying his brothers and nephews in order to secure 
the throne undisputed to himself 

But we return to the peaceful Taj. The Empress Moomtaj was 
a Khadija in her day, a Mohammedan devotee, and a bitter foe of 
Christianity — such Christianity as she knew. She took care that 
this animosity should go with her to the grave, and even be inserted 
on her tomb ; and there it is to-day, in the Taj, amid the flowers and 
inscriptions on her cenotaph — a prohibition and a prayer against 



ROMANISM'S LOST OPPOBTUNITT. 143 

Christ's followers, which her race has now forever lost the power 
to enforce, and which God Almighty has taken providential care 
shall not only remain unanswered, but be reversed to the very 
letter. 

The circumstances were these : Prior to the days of Shah Jehan 
and his wife, the Portuguese, attracted by the fame and the wealth 
of the great Akbar and his sons, had found their way to India, 
establishing themselves as traders and merchants, on the west coast 
at Goa and on the east at Hooghly, near the present Calcutta. 
Some, who were artisans, reached Agra, the imperial city, where 
they v/ere employed by the Government chiefly in the duties of the 
artillery, the arsenals and founderies, and a few as artists. The 
emoluments of office, for arts which they were thus introducing, 
were very large, and soon attracted great numbers to Agra, so that 
Monsieur Thevenot, who visited Agra in 1666, tells us that the 
Christian families there were estimated to have been about twenty- 
five thousand — an exaggeration doubtless. Still their number 
must have been large ; and among them were some Italians 
and Frenchmen, as is evident from their tombs, which are still 
extant in the Roman Catholic cemetery at Agra, where the dates 
of several are still visible on the head-stones, ranging from the 
year 1600 to 1650. 

Akbar and Shah Jehan allowed these people the free exercise of 
their religion. Indeed, the former built them a church, and used 
to take pleasure in presiding at discussions where he matched the 
Romanist priests against his Pundits and Moulvies, and seemed to 
enjoy the theological battles between them. Feeble as the light 
was which thus penetrated the imperial household, it did not shine 
in vain, for some of Akbar's household were actually baptized and 
professed the Christian faith. 

Roman Catholicism never had a grander opportunity than it 
enjoyed at Agra during those sixty years. Had it been a pure 
Christianity it might have won over the house of Tamerlane to 
the faith, and perhaps have saved all India long since. But it 
failed utterly, and won only a grave -yard at Agra. These thousands 



[46 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

of families soon vanished away and left no succession, for Hindoos 
and Mohammedans learned to perform duties which they saw 
bringing to the Christians so much honor and profit, and, as they 
did so, they necessarily hastened the removal of a religion which 
they detested. What is needed in India is a Christianity inde- 
pendent of the emoluments of office — one that shall take root in 
the soil, and be self-sustaining. But Romanism failed, and not 
from this cause alone, or even chiefly ; its weak point was the 
fearful charge of idolatry which the Moulvies triumphantly urged 
against its priests on all occasions. The skeptical but honest 
Akbar — the Oriental head of a faith iconoclastic to the core — was 
confused, as well he might be, when he saw his own Moulvies able 
to quote the Christian Bible against professed Christian ministers 
to sustain this terrible charge. Denial of it would not avail ; there 
were their own teachings and acts : worship and prayers to the 
Virgin Mary, invocation of saints, and prostrations before pictures 
and images. The subterfuge of a qualified homage was rejected in 
view of the prohibition of the Second Commandment of Almighty 
God, forbidding not only the act, but also its semblance, " Thou 
shalt not boiv dozvn to them, nor worship them." The priests were 
worsted ; and Akbar and his people, knowing no Christianity but 
this, concluded that the religion of the Son of God was on a par 
with Paganism, and that Christians were idolaters. A revulsion 
set in, which the Empress Moomtaj afterward fully shared. In her 
case, the hatred of the Christian name was intensified by the 
remembrance of some insolence shown by the Portuguese at 
Hooghly, several years before her husband ascended the throne, 
and when he was a fugitive, after an unsuccessful rebellion against 
liis father. When the power passed into her hands her hatred 
against "the European idolaters," as she called them, led her to 
demand their expulsion, at least from Hooghly. 

x\ccordingly, the Governor of Bengal received from Shah Jehan 
the laconic command, " Expel those idolaters from my dominions." 
It was done. Hooghly was carried by storm, after a siege of 
three months and a half, involving a terrible destruction of life on 



A PMATEB WHICH GOD REFUSES TO ANSWER. 147 

the side of the Portuguese, whose fleet was almost entirely anni- 
hilated. The principal ship, in which about two thousand men, 
women, and children had taken refuge, with all their treasure, was 
blown up by her captain sooner than surrender to the Moguls. 
From the prisoners five hundred young persons of both sexes, 
with some of the priests, were sent to Agra. The girls were 
divided among the harems of the court and nobles, the boys cir- 
cumcised, and the priests and Jesuits threatened with torture if 
they refused to accept the Koran. After some months of impris- 
onment, however, they were liberated and sent off" to Goa, and the 
pictures and images, which had excited the ire of the Empress, 
were all destroyed by her orders. Such wrong did Romanism do 
Christianity in India, and the name of our God and Saviour was 
blasphemed among the heathen through its idolatry. 

The Empress Moomtaj, even in death, could not forget her en- 
mity to every form of Christianity, and secured that it should be 
expressed upon her very tomb, and there it remains to-day, and 
will remain while the world stands or the Taj exists. The inscrip 
tion on the tomb, translated, is as follows: "■ Moomtaj- i-MaJial, 
Ranee Begum, died 163 1 :" and on the end of the tomb which faces 
the entrance, so that all may see it as they approach, are these 
words : " And defend us from the tribe of unbelievei's " — Kafirs ; the 
word " Kafirs " being a bitter term of contempt for Christians and 
all who lack faith in Mohammed and the Koran. 

Hea.ven would not answer the fanatical prayer of this mistaken 
woman ; but, instead, has placed even her shrine in the custody of 
those she hated ; and that very " tribe " now gather from all parts 
of the civilized world, to enter freely and admire the splendors of 
the tomb which was raised over her remains, and smile with pity 
at the impotent bigotry which asked Heaven to forbid their ap- 
proach ! The writer had the privilege, with a band of Christian 
missionaries, of standing around her tomb, and, in the presence of 
these words, of joining heartily in singing the Christian Doxology 
over her moldering remains, while the echo above sweetly repeated 
the praise to " Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 



148 THE LAND OF THE VELA. 

An article on the Taj, without some account of its architect, 
would be indeed incomplete. But the record, assuming its cor- 
rectness, enables us to supply this information also. The wonder- 
ful man whose creation the Taj is, was, it is believed, a French- 
man, by the name of Austin de Bordeux, a man of great ability. 
The Emperor, who had unbounded confidence in his merit and 
integrity, gave him the title of " Zurrier Dust " — the Jewel-Handed 
— to distinguish him from all other artists ; but by the native 
writers he is called " Gostan Esau Nadir ol Asur " — the Wonder- 
ful of the Age. For his office of " Nuksha Nuwes," or architect, he 
received a regular salary of one thousand rupees per month — 
;^6,ooo gold per annum — with perquisites and presents, which 
made his income very large. He built the palace at Delhi and the 
palace at Agra, as well as the Taj. 

Tavernier, the traveler, who saw this building commenced and 
finished, tells us that the Taj, in its erection, occupied 20,000 men 
for twenty-two years. Its cost, we are told, was " threescore, seven- 
teen lakhs, forty-eight thousand and twenty-six rupees ;" that is, 
;^3, 1 74,802 sterling, or, in American money, $15,874,010 gold, of 
the money of that time, equal to about ;^6o,ooo,ooo of our money \ 
But many of the precious stones in the mosaic were presented by 
different tributary powers, and are not included in the above esti- 
mate. Having finished the Taj, the architect was engaged in 
designing a silver ceiling for one of the galleries in the palace at 
Agra when he was sent by the Emperor on business of great 
importance to Goa. He died at Cochin on his return, and is sup- 
posed to have been poisoned by the Portuguese, who were jealous 
of his influence at Court. Shah Jehan had commenced his own 
tomb on the other side of the Jumna, and it and the Taj were to 
have been united by a bridge ; but the death of Austin de Bor- 
deux, and the wars between Shah Jehan's sons, which then broke 
out, prevented the completion of these magnificent works, and so 
the Emperor was laid beside his consort, when he died in 1666, 
and the Taj contains the remains of both. 

The Empress's title, translated, is. The Ornament of the Palace, 




i^ 



^i. < 



H 



ETMAD-OD-DOULAWS TOMB. 15 i 

for so Shah Jehan esteemed her. The name of the tomb, Taj 
Mahal, means. The Crown of Edifices, or Palaces — from Taj, a 
crown, and Mahal, a palace. It is worthy of its title, and is under 
the special care of the English Government, and will no doubt be 
preserved in its present perfect and stainless condition for its own 
sake, and because it is and must ever remain — notwithstanding 
the sins and frailties of the couple who beneath its dome await the 
call to judgment — the most perfect and beautiful testimonial to the 
virtues of a wife ever raised by an affectionate husband. 

Among the thousands of her sex who have visited the Taj, and 
felt its peculiar fascination over the susceptible heart of sentiment- 
al women, Lady Sleeman was not the first, as she certainly will 
not be the last, to realize the emotion which is recorded of her. 
Retiring from the Taj, lost in reflection and admiration, she was 
asked by her husband what she thought of the Taj .'' Her prompt 
reply was, '* I cannot tell you what I think, for I know not how to 
criticise such a building ; but I can tell you what I feel — / would 
die to-morrow to have such another put over me ! " 

A short distance from the Taj we reach the beautiful tomb of 
the Premier of the great Emperor Akbar. This splendid pile of 
white marble, delicately carved into fret-work, its screens and tes- 
sellated enamels being very fine, is situated on the right hand of 
the road as you enter the city of Agra. 

The tomb is not only beautiful in itself, and one of the most inter- 
esting specimens of Mogul architecture to be met with, even in a city 
so replete with- artistic triumphs as was once imperial Agra, the 
creation of the renowned Akbar ; but there is a history connected 
with it so romantic, illustrated by Sleeman and Martin, that it is 
worthy of its high place among the curiosities of Oriental life. 

This structure was raised by the famous Noor Jehan, in loving 
remembrance of her father, Khwaja Accas, one of the most prom- 
inent characters in the history of India during the reign of Akbar. 
The liberality and fame of the greatest monarch that ever ruled 
India, and the patronage he extended to men of genius and worth, 
attracted to his Court from Persia and the adjacent nations those 



152 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

who in his service found wealth and honor. Khwaja Accas was a 
native of Western Tartary. He had some relations at the Imperial 
Court of India who encouraged him^ to join them, under the expec- 
tation that they could secure his advancement in life. He was of 
good ancestry, but of reduced means, and possessed of abilities which 
needed only a fair opportunity for development to insure his suc- 
cess. He lei't Tartary for India at the close of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, accompanied by his wife. and children ; their only means for 
their journey having been provided by the sale of his little prop- 
erty. The incidents of their long and weary emigration are given 
with much simplicity. Their stock of money had become ex- 
hausted, and, in crossing the Great Desert, they were three days 
without food, and in danger of perishing. In this fearful emer- 
gency, the wife of Khwaja Accas gave birth to a daughter ; but, 
worn out with fatigue and privation, the miserable parents con- 
cluded to abandon the poor infant. They covered it over with 
leaves, and toward evening pursued their journey. One bullock 
remained to them, and on this the father placed his wife, and tried 
to support her on their way, in hope to reach the cultivated coun- 
try and find relief They had gone about a mile, and had just lost 
sight of the solitary shrub under which tbey had left their child, 
when Nature triumphed, and the mother, in an agony of grief, 
threw herself from the bullock upon the ground, exclaiming, " My 
child, my child ! " Accas could not resist the appeal. He re- 
turned to the spot which they had left, took up his infant, and 
brought it to its mother's breast. 

Shortly after a caravan was seen in the distance coming toward 
them ; their circumstances were made known, and a wealthy mer- 
chant took compassion upon them, relieved their necessities, and 
safely conducted them to their destination ; he even lent his influ- 
ence to advance them in life when they reached Lahore, where the 
Emperor Akbar was then holding his Court. 

That little group of five persons, the father and mother, the babe 
and her two brothers, were destined to fill a place in the page of 
history more influential than that of any family that ever emigrated 



THE DAUGHTER OF THE DESERT. 153 

to India ; for, leaving out of view for the present the high positions 
afterward attained by the father and his sons, that babe of the 
desert became, a few years subsequently, Empress of India, and 
bore the famous title of " Noor Jehan " — the Light of the World — 
while her brother, Asuf Jan, became the father of the equally cele- 
brated Moomtaj-i-Mahal — to Vv^hose memory her husband, Shah 
Jehan, built the matchless Taj Mahal— thQ noblest monument ever 
erected to woman. 

Asuf Khan, a distant relative of Khwaja Accas, held a high place 
at Court, and was much in the confidence of the Emperor. He 
made his kinsman his private secretary. Pleased with his ability 
and diligence, Asuf soon brought his merits to the special notice 
of Akbar, who raised him to the command of a thousand horse, and 
soon after appointed him Master of the Imperial Household. From 
this he was subsequently promoted to that of Etmad-od-Doulah, oi 
High Treasurer of the Empire, and first minister. His legislative 
ability soon produced beneficial results in public affairs, while his 
modest yet manly bearing conciliated the nobility, who learned to 
appreciate the value of the control which he exercised over the 
ill-regulated mind of the Emperor. 

His daughter, born in the desert, developed into one of the most 
lovely women of the East, as celebrated for her accomplishments 
as she was for her beauty, and ultimately she became the wife of 
the Prince Selim, known afterward by his title of Jehangeer, by 
whom she was raised to the throne, and had lavished upon her 
honors and power never before enjoyed by the consort of an 
Oriental potentate, even to the conjunction of her name with that 
of Jehangeer on the coins of the realm. 

On the death of her venerable and honored father she erected 
this tomb over his remains. The building, rising from a broad 
platform, is of white marble, of quadrangular shape, flanked by 
octagonal towers, which are surmounted by cupolas on a series of 
open columns. From the center of the roof of the main building 
springs a small tomb-like structure, elaborately carved and deco- 
rated, the corners terminating in golden spires. Immediately 



154 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

below this, on the floor of the hall, is the tomb inclosing the body 
of Etmad-od-Doulah. Interiorly and exteriorly this fairy pile is 
covered, as with beautiful lace, by lattice -work, delicately wrought 
in marble, covered with foliage and flowers, and intermingled with 
scrolls bearing passages from the Koran. Every portion of the 
mausoleum is thus enriched, and all that wealth could furnish, or 
Oriental art suggest, or genius execute, in the completion of the 
structure, was devoted to its adornment. The original idea in 
the mind of the Empress, as Martin and others relate, was to con- 
struct her father's shrine of solid silver ; and she was only dis- 
suaded from this purpose by the assurance that if marble was not 
equally costly, it was certain to be more durable, and less likely to 
attract the cupidity of future ages. 

The photograph of this building, when examined by a good glass, 
brings out its singular loveliness as no mere engraving can present 
it. Each slab of white marble is wrought in rich tracery in the 
most delicate manner, pierced through and through so as to be the 
same when seen from either side ; the pattern of each slab differs 
from the next one, and the rich variety, as well as beauty of the 
designs, fixes the attention of the beholder in amazement at the 
taste and patient skill that could originate and execute this vision 
of beauty, which seems like an imagination rising before the fancy, 
and then, by some wondrous wand of power, transmuted into a solid 
form forever, to be touched, and examined, and admired. Standing 
within the shrine, it seems as though it was covered with a rich 
vail, wrought in curious needle-work, every ray of light that enters 
coming through the various patterns. You approach and touch it, 
and find it is of white marble, two inches in thickness ! What 
mind but that of a lady could have suggested a design so unique 
and feminine .-* 

According to the usages of the Moguls, a lovely garden was 
planted around the fair shrine, and ample provision made for its 
care and preservation in the future. Rare and costly trees, fla- 
grant evergreens, shady walks, and tanks and fountains, all added 
their charms to set off the central pile. A small mosque was 



TEE HEROINE OP MO ORE'S POEM. 155 

added, and such religion as they knew lent its influence to the 
sacredness of the locality; while the beautiful birds of India, their 
plumage bearing 

" The rich hues of all glorious things," 

made the calm and svv^eet retreat more gorgeous by their presence. 

The Daughter of the Desert, forgetting forever the unnatural 
desertion of him whom she so lavishly honored, thus made a para- 
dise of the abode of the dead. Let her have the credit of whatever 
estimable qualities the great act expressed ; she needs this, and 
every other allowance that fairly belongs to her history, as some 
offset to the sadder parts of a life and character that, two hundred 
and fifty years ago, surprised all India by its singularity, its mag- 
nificence, and its less worthy qualities — a fame that lingered in 
their legends and history, and which, after such long interval, set- 
tled so fascinatingly on the imagination of Tom Moore, and came 
forth in his romance of Lalla Rookh. But the poet left out more 
than half the life of his heroine ; he gave her loves and fascina- 
tions, but omitted her labors, and those brilliant exploits which, 
quite as much as her beauty, commended her to the admiration of 
Jehangeer and his subjects. 

Looking at such persons, and their brilliant, yet abused, oppor- 
tunities, one may well say, " I have seen an end of all perfection." 
How transitory, at best, is the fame that rests on such foundations ! 
While we admire the taste, accomplishments, and achievements of 
this magnificent woman, we seek in vain for any evidence of benev- 
olence or goodness in what she did. She seems to have left God and 
humanity entirely out of her calculations. In all the tombs and pal- 
aces built by her and for her, personal glory and selfish ends — for self 
and family — alone appear. On these the revenues of a whole people 
were squandered, and their hard earnings demanded to enable her 
to exhibit, on this lavish scale, her magnificent caprices. But no 
hospitals, or schools, or asylums for suffering humanity, exist to 
call ner blessed, or to hand down her name as a pattern or pro- 
moter of purity and goodness. How much more " honorable and 
glorious" is the character, or the lot, of the humblest saint of God 



156 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

who lives to do good to her fellow-creatures ! Her grave may be 
as lowly and lone as that of Ann Hazeltine Judson, on the rock at 
Amherst, and without a stone to mark it, as I saw it in 1864 ; but, 
when Noor Jehan's marble edifices have returned to the dust, those 
who have thus employed their time and abilities to save the per- 
ishing will be " had in everlasting remembrance," and " shine as 
the stars for ever and ever." 

Few men have visited the East who possessed so highly as did 
Bishop Heber the capacity to appreciate the taste and skill exhib- 
ited in the gorgeous buildings of India. Truly and appropriately 
does he exclaim, while contemplating their wondrous works, 
"These Patans built like giants, and finished their work like 
jewelers." The highest illustration of this eulogium is found in 
the matchless Taj Mahal. 

We present one more evidence of their taste and skill in the 
wonderful Kootitb Minar. 

It has been well observed that this Minar is, among the towers 
of the earth, what the Taj is among the tombs, something unique 
of its kind, that must ever stand alone in the recollection of him 
who has gazed upon its beautiful proportions, its chaste embellish- 
ments, and exquisite finish. About eleven miles south-west of 
the modern city of Delhi stands the desolate site of ancient Delhi. 
This city is supposed to have been founded about 57 B. C. The 
height of prosperity to which it rose may be imagined from its 
only memorials — the tombs, columns, gateways, mosques, and 
masonry, which lie strewn around in silent and naked desolation. 
Where rose temple and tower now resounds only the cry of the 
jackal and the wolf; for the voice of man is silent there, and the 
wanderings of the occasional tourist alone give any sign of human 
life or presence in the once " glorious city." The ruins cover a 
circle of about twenty miles in extent. 

In the midst and above all this wild ruin, like a Pharos to guide 
the traveler over this sea of desolation, rises the tall, tapering cyl- 
inder of the KooUib Minar. To archaeologists like Cunningham, 
travelers like Von Orlich, and learned observers like General Slee- 




The Kootub. From a Photograph, 



11 



THE KOOTUB PEERLESS. 1 59 

man, Mr. Archer, and Bholanauth Chunder, and the pages of the 
" Asiatic Researches," we are indebted for the best descriptions of 
this wonlerful relic of antiquity. These authors have necessarily 
borrowed largely from each other in representing this city of the 
dead and its wonderful and unequaled pillar, the towering majesty 
of which has looked down for centuries only upon ruin and the 
wild jungle which now grows where once stood the great center of 
India's glory — its magnificent metropolis. 

The Kootub forms the left of two minars of a mosque, which, in 
size and splendor, was to be peerless on the earth as a place of 
worship, and from the character of this single shaft it is evident 
that, had the design been completed, it would have been all that its 
imperial founder intended in that respect. But death, war, and 
human vacillation make sad havoc of men's hopes and intentions, 
and this great memorial stands in attestation of the fact. 

For nearly a century a controversy has existed in India as to the 
architectural honors of the wonderful Kootub. The Hindoos 
would fain claim that they built it, and Bholanauth Chunder, on 
their behalf, makes the best case he can to prove that the honor of 
its design and creation belongs to his race, and not to the hated 
Moslem ; yet even he has to concede that the evidences of its 
Mohammedan origin are so decided that the Hindoos must give up 
the claim to the glory of its origination. The Baboo's description 
is very vivid, and as he corrected the measurements of General 
Sleeman and others, and has made his examinations within the 
past five years, and was also well qualified for the task which 
he undertook, we quote him with confidence in the following 
description : 

" The Kootub outdoes every thing of its kind — it is rich, unique, 
venerable, and magnificent. It * stands as it were alone in India ; ' 
rather, it should have been said, alone in the world; for it is the 
highest column that the hand of man has yet reared, being, as it 
stands now, two hundred and thirty-eight feet and one inch above 
the level of the ground. Once it is said to have been three hun- 
dred feet high, but there is not any very reliable authority for this 



l6o THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

statement. In 1794, however, it had been actually measured to be 
two hundred and fifty feet eleven inches high. The Pillar of 
Tompey at Alexandria, the Minaret of the Mosque of Hassan at 
Cairo, and the Alexandrine Column at St. Petersburg, all bow their 
heads to the Kootub. 

"The base of this Minar is a polygon of twenty-four sides, alto- 
gether measuring one hundred and forty-seven feet. The shaft is 
of a circular form, and tapers regularly from the base to the sum- 
mit. It is divided into five stories, round each of which runs a 
bold, projecting balcony, supported upon large and richly-carved 
brackets, having balustrades that give to the pillar a most orna- 
mental effect. 

" The exterior of the basement story is fluted alternately in 
twenty-seven angular and semicircular faces. In the second story 
the fiutings are only semicircular ; in the third they are all angular. 
The fourth story is circular and plain ; the fifth again has semicir- 
cular flutings. The relative height of the stories to the diameter 
of the base has quite scientific proportions. The first, or lower- 
most story, is ninety-five feet from the ground, or just two diame- 
ters in height ; the second is fifty-three feet farther up, the third 
forty feet farther. The fourth story is twenty-four feet above the 
third, and the fifth has a height of twenty-two feet. The whole 
column is just five diameters in height. Up to the third story the 
Minar is built of fine red sandstone. From the third balcony to 
the fifth the building is composed chiefly of white Jeypoor marble. 
The interior is of the gray rose-quartz stone. The ascent is by a 
spiral staircase of three hundred and seventy-six steps to the bal- 
cony of the fifth story, and thence are three more steps to the top 
of the present stone-work. Inside it is roomy enough, and full of 
openings for the admission of light and air. The steps are almost 
' lady-steps,' and the ascent is quite easy. The ferruginous sand- 
stone has been well selected to lend a rich, majestic appearance to 
the column. The surface of that material seems to have deepened 
in reddish tmt by exposure for ages to the oxygen of the atmos- 
phere. The white marble of the upper stories sits like a tastefuJ 



ORTOIN OF THE KOOTUB. l6l 

crown upon the red stone ; and the graceful bells sculptured in the 
balconies are like a 'cummerbund' around the waist of the majestic 
tower. The lettering on the upper portions has to be made out by 
using a telescope." The Kootub does not stand now in all the 
integrity of its original structure. It was struck by lightning, and 
had to be repaired by the Emperor Feroz Shah in 1368. 

In 1503 the Minar happened to be again injured, and was 
repaired by the orders of Secunder Lodi, the reigning sovereign, a 
man of great taste and a munificent .patron of learning and the 
arts. 

Three hundred years after its reparation by Secunder Lodi, in the 
year 1803, a severe earthquake seriously injured the pillar, and its 
dangerous state having been brought to the notice of the British 
Government on their taking possession of the country, they liber- 
ally undertook its repair. These repairs were brought to a close in 
twenty-five years. The old cupola of Feroz Shah, or of Secunder 
Lodi, that was standing in 1794, having fallen down, had been sub- 
stituted by a plain, octagonal red-stone pavilion. To men of artistic 
taste this had appeared a very unfitting head-piece for the noble 
column, so it was taken down by the orders of Lord Hardin ge in 
1847, and the present stone-work put up in its stead. The con- 
demned top now lies on a raised plot of ground in front, as shown 
resting on the platform on the right-hand side in the engraving. 

Now, as to the origin of the Kootub, a subject on which much 
speculation has been wasted. 

Theories professing a Hindoo origin are maintained by one party : ' 
theories professing its Mohammedan origin are propounded by the 
other. The Hindoo party believes the Minar to have been built by 
a Hindoo prince for his daughter, who wished to worship the rising 
sun and to view the waters of the Jumna from the top of it every 
morning. The Mohammedan party repudiates this as an outrage- 
ous paradox, and would have the Kootub taken for the unmistaka- 
ble MazinaJi of the Musjeed-i-Kootub-ul-Islam. " No man who 
sees the Minar can mistake it for a moment to be any other than 
a thoroughly Mohammedan building — Mohammedan in design, and 



1 62 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Mohammedan in its intents and purposes. The object is at once 
apparent to the spectator — that of a Mazinah for the Muezzin to 
call the faithful to prayers. The adjoining mosque, fully corre- 
sponding in design, proportion, and execution to the tower, bears 
one out in such a view of the lofty column, and there is the recorded 
testimony of Shams-i-raj and Abulfeda to place the fact beyond a 
doubt." 

In addition to its structure, and the vast mosque near which it 
stands, and of which it so manifestly forms a part, we have the 
conclusive fact that the history of the Kootub is written in its own 
inscriptions. None dares to impeach these records, and the 
Kootub thus seems to have been commenced in about 1200 A. D., 
and finished in 1220. 

In the "Asiatic Researches" (vol. XIV, p. 481) is given the fol- 
lowing translation of the fourth inscription upon the Minar : " The 
erection of this building was commenced in the glorious time of 
the great Sultan, the mighty King of kings, the Master of mankind, 
the Lord of the monarchs of Turkestan, Arabia, and Persia, the 
Sun of the world and religion, of the faith and of the faithful, the 
Lord of safety and protection, the heir of the kingdoms of Suliman 
— Abu Muzefifa Altemsh Nasir Amin ul Momenin." 

Such was the style and title affected by these high and haughty 
sovereigns of Oriental Mohammedanism when, reveling in pride 
and power, like Nebuchadnezzar, they looked around at the " great 
Babylons" which they had built. How little they imagined with 
what utter desolation their works would be overthrown, to leave 
behind only a nam.e and a ruin, and that so nearly undistinguisha- 
ble that men in future ages could only ascertain the shadowy record 
by making it a special study ! 

For six hundred and forty-six years has the gigantic Kootub 
weathered the rude assaults of the elements, and thousands of 
strangers from distant lands have come to gaze upon the mighty 
monument of a departed glory and a dying faith. How many, as 
they have stood in its shadow, have realized that there must be an 
adequate supernatural cause to account for all this wondrous 



RUIN ANB DEATH. 163 

decadence and death, which so quietl}^ but effectively, has pros- 
trated its hopes and heaped confusion upon its intentions (despite 
its boundless wealth, military power, and fierce religious fanaticism) 
to defend and diffuse its dominating faith ! Yet, after all, thus 
it sinks and thus it dies in its chosen homes. 

The instability and the doom that seems ever impending over 
the institutions and structures raised by the worshipers of Allah, 
of Vishnu, of Buddha, or the Virgin Mary, come not causeless. 
They are Heaven's maledictions upon the fearful crime of false 
religions, which, while they defy God, degrade and dishonor men — 
cursing their conditions by poverty, miserable homes, and wretched 
compensation for their toil ; wasting their revenues, sinking them 
in ignorance, destroying their morals, depriving them of liberty, 
and ruining their souls ; till at length, when they have filled up 
their measure of iniquity, it turns the very centers and cradles of 
their faiths into the abodes of material or moral ruin, " the hold of 
every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." 

Whether the religion be utterly false or only a perversion of the 
true, its influence is equally pernicious and manifest. He who 
runs may read this on its very face in India and in Ireland, in 
Egypt and Burmah, in Delhi and Rome, in Benares and Mexico ; 
in the Sepoy, the Gazee, and the Jesuit ; in Tamerlane, Cesare 
Borgia, and the Nana Sahib ; in Cawnpore, Canton, and St. Bar- 
tholomew. All equally evince the direful influence of false religions 
upon the conditions of men and nations. 

On the other hand, the holy, living faith of a divine Jesus regen- 
erates the hearts and the communities which yield themselves to 
its influence — confers freedom, light, education, equal rights, tem- 
poral prosperity, moral purity, domestic joy, and every thing lovely, 
virtuous, and of good report — rears up the temples of a true Chris- 
tianity, and, without a stain of decadence upon its bright prospects 
of final universality, presents no ruins or desolations amid its evan- 
gelical conquests or their results. 

Those once powerful religions and nations that marched so 
proudly and resolutely to conquest and ascendency under their 



164 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Antichristian banners, and raised their vainglorious monuments on 
the sites of their cruel victories, and then looked forward to such 
perpetuity of power and glory — where are they now ? " Plow are 
the mighty fallen ! " How fast they rushed on to their inevitable 
ruin, while those behind are to-day sinking into the same desola- 
tion ! And why ? Because there were higher laws than their own 
which they dared to violate — an authority against which they vainly 
dashed themselves — a power which they had the temerity to opj)ose, 
but which, nevertheless, numbered their kingdoms and finished 
them, by the terrible penalties which they had incurred, and the 
fearful evidences of which are strewn around in India and so many 
other localities. 

How can these facts and results be understood or explained save 
on the New Testament assumption that Jehovah Christ has all 
power in heaven and on earth — that he has a dominion here which 
he must maintain and vindicate, though earth and hell oppose hini, 
till his enemies are put beneath his feet, and He, the blessed and 
only Potentate, shall stand at last, amid the overthrow of all oppo- 
sition, the Conqueror of the world ! 

"In righteousness he doth judge and make war" upon these 
enemies of his faith. Before his Holy Word the Veda and the 
Bana, the Koran and the Missal, must fall. Until that is done he 
will make good his own awful declaration, that " out of his mouth 
goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations ; and 
he shall rule them with a rod of iron. He treadeth the winepress 
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his 
vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and 
Lord of lords." 

The Kootub Mosque stands deserted ; snakes and lizards now 
crawl in its ruins, amid which the Mazinah yet stands, solitary, 
grand, and majestic, as though heaven spurned the attempt to rear 
up and perpetuate a peerless sanctuary, where Moslem blasphemy 
against the Christ of God might be continually uttered in a grand 
center toward which all Oriental Islamites might turn, and in 
which they might glory. God dashed their hopes to pieces like a 



THE UNFINISHED MINAE. 165 

potter's vessel, and changed their ambition and glory into a tomb 
and a ruin. 

The unfinished Minar to the right hand has twice the dimen- 
sions of the Minar .here shown. This column was evidently 
intended for a second mazinah, without which a Mohammedan 
mosque is essentially defective. 

The second Minar — or Minaret, to use the modern phrase — is 
considerably larger in the base than the one shown in the engrav- 
ing. It stands at a proper distance from the first, and was carried 
up about thirty feet above ground, and then discontinued. Anti- 
quarians have been greatly puzzled to account for the variations from 
the dimensions of the first and finished one ; but it is not neces- 
sary to trouble the reader with their theories or debates, as Slee- 
man's solution has been accepted as highly probable and satis- 
factory. 

His explanation is, that the unfinished minaret was commenced 
first, but upon too large a scale, and with too small a diminution 
of the circumference from the base upward. It is two fifths larger 
than the finished minaret in circumference, and much more per- 
pendicular. Finding these errors, when the builders had gone up 
with it thirty feet from the ground, the royal founder began the 
work anew, and on qualified and corrected dimensions, and this is 
the finished one before the reader. Had he lived he would no 
doubt have carried up the second minaret in its proper place on 
the same scale, and so completed his mosque ; but his death occur- 
ring, and being followed by fearful revolutions — so that five sover- 
eigns sat upon the throne of Delhi in the succeeding ten years — 
works of peace were suspended in the presence of war, while the 
succeeding monarchs sought renown in military enterprises, and 
thus the building of the second minaret was never proceeded 
with. 

The great mosque itself, with that exception, seems to have been 
completed. Nearly all the arches are still standing in a more or 
less perfect state. They correspond with the magnificent minaret 
in design, proportion, and execution, it evidently having been the 



1 66 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

intention of the founder to make them all sustain and illustrate the 
matchless grandeur of the finished work. It was in this condition 
when Tamerlane invaded India A. D. 1398. That "firebrand of 
the universe," as he was called, was so enchanted with the great 
mosque and its minar that he had- a model of it made, which he 
took back with him, along with all the masons that he could find 
in Delhi, and it is said that he erected a mosque exactly upon this 
plan at his capital of Samarcund, before he again left it for the 
invasion of Syria. 

The west face of the quadrangle, in which the minar stands, was 
formed by eleven large alcoves, the center and greatest of which 
contained the pulpit 

The court to the eastward is inclosed by a high wall, bordered 
by arcades formed of pillars carved in the highest style of Hindoo 
art. Those on the opposite side are dissimilar, and the fair infer- 
ence is, that the Moslem monarch built his mosque, in part, by 
materials taken from the great Hindoo temples, which he must 
have desecrated for the purpose. This was after their fashion, and 
laid the foundation for those bitter feuds and hatreds of the one 
people against the other, which have lasted to this day. 

Close to the minar are the remains of one of those superb port- 
als, so general in the great works of the Patans. The archway of 
this gate is sixty feet high, and the ornaments with which it is 
embellished are cut with the delicacy of a seal engraving, retaining, 
after the lapse of six hundred years, their sharp, clear outlines. 

Few who visit the Kootub, if they have strength for the toilsome 
ascent, fail to go to the summit, and well does it repay the eftbrt. It 
is sublime to look up to the unclouded heavens, to which you seem 
so near, while beneath and beyond, the eye wanders over not 
merely the city beneath, but across to modern Delhi, with its 
white and glittering mosques and palaces, the silvery Jumna 
gently pouring along, the feudal towers of Selimghur, and the 
mausoleums of Humayun and Sufter Jung, all in the soft light of 
the India sunset ; but what must that view have been when impe- 
rial splendors, and cultivation like earthly paradises, or " the gar- 



THE IBON PILLAR. 167 

dens of God," combined all their wealth of beaut) beneath its 
shadow, and then away as far as the eye could reach on every 
side ! 

The writer visited the Kootub, on the last occasion, in 1864, in 
company with Bishop Thomson. The Bishop's description may 
be found in his " Oriental Missions," Vol. I, p. 65. He justly calls 
the Minar " the grandest column of the world." It is so. Except 
the tower of Babel, probably nothing ever erected by human 
hands has produced the same effect, as one stands awe-struck at 
its base and gazes up upon its majestic form towering to the 
skies. 

It has not been without its tragic incidents. General Sleeman, 
writing in 1844, tells us that five years previously, "while the 
Emperor was on a visit to the tomb of Kootub-ad-deen, an insane 
man got into his private apartment. The servants were ordered 
to turn him out. On passing the Minar he ran in, ascended to 
the top, stood a few moments on the verge, laughing at those who 
were running after him, and made a spring that enabled him to 
reach the bottom without touching the sides. An eye-witness told 
me that he kept his erect position till about half-way down, when 
he turned over, and continued to turn till he got to the bottom, 
where his fall made a report like a gun. He was, of course, dashed 
to pieces." 

Close to the Kootub stands the famous Iron Pillar — the palla- 
dium of Hindoo dominion — and which, there is evidence for believ- 
ing, has stood there for fifteen hundred years. 

The Iron Pillar is a solid shaft of mixed metal resembl'ng bronze, 
upward of sixteen inches in diameter and about sixty feet in length. 
The greater part of it is under-ground, and that which is above is 
less than thirty feet high. The ground about it has marks of exca- 
vation, said to have been carried down to twenty-six feet Avithout 
reaching the foundation on which the pillar rests, and without 
loosening it in any degree. The pillar contains about eighty cubic 
feet of metal, and would probably weigh upward of seventeen tons. 

The Iron Pillar, standing nearly in the middle of a grand square, 



108 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

"records its own history in a deeply-cut Sanscrit inscription of six 
lines on its western face." Antiquaries have read the characters, 
and the pillar has been made out to be " the arm of fame — Kirt- 
ibhuja — of Rajah Dhava." He is stated to have been a worshiper 
of Vishnu, and a monarch who " had obtained with his own arm an 
undivided sovereignty on the earth for a long period." The letters 
upon the triumphal pillar are called " the typical cuts inflicted 
on his enemies by his sword, writing his immortal fame." " It is a 
pity that posterity can know nothing more of this mighty Rajah 
Dhava than what is recorded in the meager inscription upon this 
wonderful relic of antiquity. The characters of the inscription are 
thought to be the same as thpse of the Gupta inscriptions, and the 
success alluded to therein is supposed to have been the assistance 
which that Rajah had rendered in the downfall of the powerful 
sovereigns of the Gupta dynasty. The age in which he flourished 
is, therefore, concluded to have been about the year 319 A. D., the 
initial point of the Balabhi or Gupta era." 

Antiquarians have tried very earnestly to solve the mystery of 
this metallic monument. The most probable conclusion is, that it 
marked the center of the great Rajah's city, and stood in a splen- 
did temple. But on the invasion and conquest of Delhi by the 
Mohammedan power the Emperor chose that center for his own 
purposes, and threw his great mosque across the very site of that 
temple, taking its marble columns for his colonnades, permitting 
the Iron Pillar to remain, but erecting the Minar near it, forever to 
dwarf its proportions and interest. But all are alike in ruin now — 
their rage, contention, and emulation in the dust, while the Pillar 
and the Minar alone remain. 

How little did either the proud Rajah or the fierce Emperor 
anticipate what a wreck the Ruler of heaven and earth would make 
of their hopes, and that where they built and embellished, and set 
forth their glory, would yet be as naked as ruin itself, and that the 
wild beasts of the forest would howl in their desolate palaces ! 

That desolation is the more marked, when we remember that 
very probably, after all these high anticipations, carried out so des- 



HEAVEN'S CONFUSION ON TUE INTENTION. 1 69 

potically, and with the lavish expenditure of such untold millions, 
this mosque and minar may never have answered, even in a single 
instance, the purposes for which they were so proudly intended. 
According to their customs and rules, the mosque would probably 
not be used till completed. The second minar, being unfinished, 
would very likely prevent the dedication ; so that ere another hand 
could consummate the great design, the death of the founder, the 
long and fierce wars that followed, and finally the imperial fickle- 
ness which chose the banks of the Jumna, eleven miles away, as 
the site of new Delhi, leading to the utter forsaking of the grand 
old city, with all its monuments, temples, mosques, and palaces, con- 
signed the Kootub forever to desolation, and after all left it, very 
likely, a mosque where no prayer was ever offered, and a minaret 
from whose lofty summit no muezzin's voice ever called the sons 
of the Koran to their vain devotions. 

Though fifteen hundred years have gone over it, the Iron Pillar 
shows no sign of decay ; it is smooth and clean. The metal of 
which it is composed was so fused and amalgamated that it defies 
all oxidation, while the characters engraven upon it remain to-day 
clear and distinct as when they were first cut by the hand of the 
engraver. 

The great antiquity, the enormous size, and the interesting 
inscriptions upon the pillar of Rajah Dhava have led to great rev- 
erence toward it by all Hindoos, and legends are not wanting to 
account tor its origin and position. One tradition is, that it is the 
veritable club that great Bheema wielded in the battles of the Mah- 
abharata, and which was left standing there by the Pandus after 
their contest. But the more popular story is, that it is a pillar so 
long that it pierced the entire depth of the earth, till it rested on 
the head of the gigantic snake called Vasuki, who supports the world 
— that its stability was the palladium of Hindoo dominion in India 
Such were some of the magnificent and unique surroundings of 
the Mogul Court in 1856; and all this, with much more that 
might be mentioned, they were then about to risk the possession 
of in a fearful struggle with the white-faced race. 



I70 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ORIGINATING CAUSES OF THE SEPOY REBELLION. 

\T 7"IiILE moving amid the gorgeous scenes of the previous 
* ^ chapter, we were happily unconscious of the circumstances 
of danger by which we were surrounded, and which could so easily 
have victimized us all. We knew not then of that peculiar combi- 
nation and concurrence of favoring circumstances for the accom- 
plishment of the purposes which are now well understood and 
can be explained, and a knowledge of which is essential to those 
who would comprehend the great Sepoy Rebellion. We will now 
state them, and, in doing this, will show how it was possible for 
such a rebellion to be then originated and carried out. 

I. The first and most important fact was the position of the 
Emperor of Delhi — he in whose name and for whose interests it 
was inaugurated. We have already noticed the circumstances 
under which the alien power of the Mogul entered India, and at 
last came to rule from Calcutta to Cabul. With the sense of 
cruelty, injustice, and wrong that rankled in the hearts of the Hin- 
doos against these foreigners, no length of time had ever reconciled 
them to their presence in their country. Thus, the last thing we 
could have imagined possible in 1857 was, that these two peoples 
could find a common ground of agreement on which they could 
stand together ; and that expectation was the confidence of English- 
men in India. They leaned with f:onfidence upon the Hindoos, 
whom they had elevated from the rule of Mohammedan injustice, 
believing that so long as they were content and satisfied the 
English empire was safe, no matter how the Mohammedans might 
rage. So they thought, and did not even dream that these ancient 
and inveterate foes were finding a ground of agreement, and were wide 



THE ENGLISH BARGAIN WITH THE MOGUL. I/l 

awake, plotting the terrible arrangements that were so soon to burst 
in fire and bloodshed over the land. 

In the East, where there are no constitutions or popular gov- 
ernments, personal influence in a sovereign is every thing ; the 
despotic powers have only their individual adaptation and prestige 
to depend upon to commend their rule. It is a maxim with them, 
that " a king who has no eyes in his head is useless." In refer- 
ence to the poor, old, mutilated Emperor of Delhi, (grandfather of 
the one whose portrait is herein given,) it had much more than a 
metaphorical meaning. Its literal truth led to that state of general 
conviction of Mogul imbecility, and the necessity of having the 
paramount power of India in hands able to maintain its peace, and 
which would at the same time respect the rights of the falling 
dynasty, and all others concerned, which led soon after to the con- 
summation of that Treaty between the Emperor and the English 
Government, in which his Imperial Majesty consented to surrender 
to them his authority and power (a poor show it then was) for certain 
considerations. That is, he agreed that the British were to assume 
the government of the country, and rule in his name, on condition 
that they would guarantee to himself and his successors forever the 
following compensations : 

(i.) He was to be recognized as titular Emperor. His title was 
sounding enough to become a higher condition. How absurd it 
seems, when we quote its translation in full : " The Sun of the 
Faith, Lord of the World, Master of the Universe and of the Hon- 
orable East India Company, King of India and of the Infidels, the 
Superior of the Governor-General, and Proprietor of the Soil from 
Sea to Sea ! " This is surely enough for any mortal, especially 
when it is connected with a safe salary nearly as large as itself! 

(2.) He was still to be the fountain of honor, so that all the sun- 
nuds (patents) of nobility, constituting Rajahs, Nawabs, etc., were 
to be made out in his name, and sealed with his signet. 

(3.) An embassador of England was to reside at his Court, to 
be the official organ of communication between himself and the 
Knsrlish Government. 



• 72 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

(4.) He was to retain his royal residences, the one in Delhi 
being regularly fortified, and occupying probably one fourth of the 
area of the city. And, 

(5.) His imperial revenue was to be made sure, and punctually 
paid from the British Treasury. 

He was asked how much that revenue must be .'' He repliedj 
"Thirteen and a half lakhs of rupees annually" — ^675,000 per 
annum. And as matters go in the East, where kings are supposed 
to own the soil, and can levy their own jumma (tax) upon every 
cultivated acre of it, this was not considered an unreasonable or 
unusual demand. 

The terms were accepted, and the British moved their authority 
west of the Kurrumnasa, assumed the civil, political, and military 
control of Hindustan proper, and the Mogul Emperor resigned the 
heavy cares of State and went to house-keeping on his ^675,000 
per year. He assuredly might think that he had made a good 
bargain for himself and his family with his commercial patrons, the 
East India Company, while the whole resources of Great Britain 
were pledged to every item of the engagement — and he certainly 
might have done tolerably well under the circumstances. But one 
thing stood in the way. He and his outraged the laws of Heaven ; 
the result was a ruin which in its completeness has had hardly a 
parallel in the history of any earthly dynasty. 

With idleness and fullness of bread came mischief and vileness 
for three generations, increasing in their terrible tendencies, as the 
sins of the fathers were shared by, and visited upon, their children, 
until hideous ruin engulphed the whole concern, and left not a 
wreck behind. 

To the American reader it must seem amazing to state that the 
$675,000 per annum proved utterly insufficient to enable the last 
Emperor to live and keep out of debt ; yet so it was. He really 
could not "make ends meet" from year to year on this splendid 
allowance, paid to the day, and paid in gold. But the explanation 
is at hand. 

Had the duality of the marriage relation been recognized at the 



WHY THE MUNIFICENT PROVISION FAILED. 173 

Court of Delhi, it is very probable that it might have escaped the 
guilt and misery which hastened its destruction. Men in high or 
low station cannot violate the laws of God, even when their creed 
sanctions that violation, without incurring the penalty which is 
sure to come, sooner or later. Of this truth there never was a 
more marked example than was exhibited within these high and 
bastioned walls. The three generations during which this wrath 
was " treasuring up" its force but made it more overwhelming when 
its overthrow of desolation came. It was expressly stipulated in 
the treaty that the munificent provision made for the Emperor 
was to cover all claims. Out of the $675,000 per annum he was 
required to support the retinue of relations and dependents col- 
lected within the walls of the imperial residence. But fifty years 
of idleness, and the Hcense of a sensual creed, which permitted 
unlimited polygamy, made that which would have been easy to 
virtue impossible to vice. 

The Eden of God had but one Eve in it, and she reigned as 
queen in the pure affections of the happy and noble man for whom 
God had made her. Within the walls of that Delhi palace Shah 
Jehan could inscribe the words, 

" If there be a paradise on the face of the earth, 
It is this— it is this— it is this ! " 

For he loved one only, and was faithful to her, and has enshrined 
her memory while the world stands in the matchless Taj Mahal. 
Few, if any, of his race imitated his virtue in this regard ; and least 
of all his last descendants. Fifteen years ago the Delhi " para- 
dise" had become changed into a very pandemonium. Here were 
crowded together twelve hundred kings and queens — for all the 
descendants of the Emperors assumed the title of " Sulateens " — 
with ten times as many persons to wait' upon them, so that the 
population of the palaces were actually estimated at twelve thou- 
sand persons. Glorying in their " royal blood," they held them- 
selves superior to all efforts to earn their living by honest labor, 
and fastened, like so many parasites, upon the old Emperor's 

yearly allowance. " But what was that among so many," and they 
12 



174 TSE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

SO constantly on the increase ? So here the "kings" and "queens" 
of the house of Timour were found lying about in scores, like broods 
of vermin, without sufficient food to eat, or decent clothing to wear, 
and literally eating up each other. Yet, notwithstanding, their 
insolence and pride were exactly equal to their poverty ; so that 
one of these kings, who had not more than fifty shillings per month 
for his share wherewith to subsist himself and his family, in writing 
to the Representative of the British Government at the Court, 
would address him as " Fidwee Khass," our particular slave ; and 
would expect to be addressed in reply with, " Your Majesty's com- 
mands have been received by your slave !" 

Living in royalty on twenty-five dollars per month, or less, each 
of these worthies, on choosing a wife, or adding another to those 
he had before, would feel it necessary, for his rank's sake, to settle 
upon her a dowry of five lakhs of rupees, (two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars,) while actually the royal scamp did not own fifty 
dollars in the world. His only accomplishment or occupation was 
playing on the " Sitar," and singing the King's verses, for this king 
was ambitious of a poet's title, and they flattered the old gentle- 
man's whim. Did the world ever witness such a farce ! 

Perhaps at the time I first saw the palace of Delhi, with this 
state of things then in full operation, the eye of God did not look 
down upon a mass of humanity more dissatisfied, more vile, more 
proud, and more mean, than the crowd of hungry Shazadahs who 
pressed against each other for subsistence within the walls of that 
fortification. All being royal blood, of course they could not soil 
their hands to gain an honest living ; every man and woman of 
them must be suppoi ted out of the imperial allowance. 

It was a simple impossibility for the English Government to 
meet the necessities of this case, or satisfy the demands of this 
greedy, hungry, and rapidly increasing crew. Twice had the 
Emperor's appeal been yielded to, and the grant increased from 
thirteen and a half, to eighteen lakhs, so that in 1857 they were 
receiving ^900,000 per annum ; but the limit had been reached at 
last. The EngHsh would neither pay the debts which they con- 



THE PAGEANT FELT TO BE A BOBE. 1/5 

tracted nor increase the yearly allowance. The country would not 

endure it. 

The humiliating ceremonies, so tenaciously required by the 
Emperor on receiving any member of the English Government, 
had become increasingly irksome and annoying as time rolled on 
and this condition of things developed, until it began to be felt that 
the Great Mogul pageant was a bore. Lord Amherst, a former 
Governor-General, at length refused to visit the Emperor if ex- 
pected, according to Delhi court etiquette, to do so with bare feet, 
bowed head, and joined hands. He declared he would only visit 
him on terms of honorable equality, and not as an inferior. Both 
he and Lord Bentinck refused any longer to stand in " the Pres- 
ence," but demanded a State chair on the right hand of the Em- 
peror, and to be received as an equal. This shocked the Emperor's 
feeUngs, but he had to give in. Then came the suspension of the 
" Nuzzer "—the yearly present— a symbol of allegiance or confession 
of suzerainty. The value was not withheld, but added to the 
yearly allowance ; but the Emperor refused to accept it in this 

form. 

In 1849, on the death of the heir apparent, Lord Dalhousie, 
then Governor-General, opened negotiations designed to abolish 
this pageant of the Great Mogul, and offered terms to the next heir 
to abdicate the throne, vacate the Delhi Palace, and sink their 
high titles, retiring to the Kootub Palace and a private position, so 
that the large family might be placed under proper restrictions 
and required to obtain education, and fit themselves for stations 
where they could earn their living. But the merciful and wise pio- 
posal was misapprehended by them : instead of appreciating it, it 
thoroughly alarmed them. They chose to consider that their very 
existence was attacked. They would rather continue to fester and 
starve together within those walls than to separate and rouse them 
selves to action and honest employment ; so they began to talk 
louder than ever about their "wrongs," and the "insults" offered 
them by the English Government, prominent among which was 
the refusal any longer to give to each of these princes, whenever 



1/6 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

he cliose to show his face in public, the royal salute of his "rank." 
But the English had deliberately come to the conclusion that this 
was a foolish and ridiculous waste of the national powder, and 
ought to cease forever. 

Thus the Court — Emperor Begums, Sultans and Sultanas, 
Shazadas, Eunuchs, and followers, all in a ferment of dissension 
and hatred of English rule — became a centei to which all disaf- 
fected elements naturally tended. 

These men became the life and soul of the great conspiracy for 
the overthrow of the English power and the expulsion of Chris- 
tianity from India, and for the elevation once more of Moham- 
medan supremacy over the Hindoo nations. Yielding to their 
influence, and that of the Sepoys, as will be narrated in our next 
chapter, the old Emperor committed himself fully, without count- 
ing the cost, to the fearful struggle. 

The reader can well understand what an " elephant " the En- 
glish Government had here on its hands, and in what perplexity 
they were as to what they should do with it. 

This " high-born " population thus pressed for the means of sub- 
sistence within these walls, instead of being required to shift for 
themselves and quietly sink among the crowd without. When the 
writer reached India, in 1856, this state of things was ripening to 
its natural consummation. The different members of the Em- 
peror's great family circle were fast becoming rallying points for 
the dissatisfied and disaffected. Let loose upon the community, 
they were every-where disgusting people by their insolence and 
knavery, so that the English magistrates in Delhi had to stand 
between them and their victims. The prestige of their names was 
fast diminishing, and they were falling into utter insignificance 
and contempt. This was true even of the highest of them. It 
was these " idle hands " that Satan employed to do much of the 
" mischief" wrought during the fearful rebellion of 1857 — an event 
which consummated their own ruin, and sent scores of them to the 
gallows. 

In the " good old days " of their rule they had their own way of 



MOSLEM HATE OF CHRIST AND CHRISTIANS. 177 

relieving any financial pressure, as soon as it was felt, by " loans " 
which were never paid, or by exactions from which there was no 
appeal or escape. But in 1857 it was no longer possible to prac- 
tice in this way. The palace people had to let other men's money 
alone, and were required to live within their means, and those who 
trusted them had now to do so on their own responsibility. The 
Government of England refused to pay a dollar of their debts or 
grant any further increase to their allowance. How they raged 
over this resolve ! Exhortations to do something, or fit them- 
selves for positions which would support them, were all thrown 
away upon them, or, worse, they held the advice to be an insult. 
They were royal, and could not think of work ; so they raged 
against the Government that stood between them and those whom 
they used to victimize, and sighed for the days when they could 
have relieved their necessities at the expense of other men. It 
need not be wondered at that such people hated English rule, 
and resolved that, if ever the opportunity came within their reach, 
they would be revenged upon the race who compelled them to be 
honest. 

Just in proportion to this impotent rage, of which the Govern- 
ment was well aware, most of the Hindoo princes around were 
exultant to think that the Great Mogul had found a master at last 
— that there was a strong hand on the bridle in his jaws, to hold 
him back from trampling on the rights of other people. The 
Shroffs (native Bankers) and moneyed men in the bazaars were in 
high glee, knowing that the rupees in their coffers were all safe 
under the protection of England's power, and that none could 
make them afraid. 

To all this, if you add the religious hate, you have the entire 
case of the Delhi Court. How these men raged as they remem- 
bered that their Crescent had gone down before the hated Cross ; 
that where they had ruled and tyrannized for seven hundred years 
Christianity was now triumphant. They detest England : they 
will always do so : not because of her nationality, but for her faith. 
They would hate Americans all the same if we were there. To 



178 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Christianity they are irreconcilably antagonistic. They detest the 
doctrine of a divine Christ, and his followers have to share his 
odium at their hands. Alas, it is simple truth to say, that if the 
Lord Jesus were to come down from heaven to-day, and put him- 
self in their power, they would as assuredly crucify him afresh in 
the streets of Delhi for saying he was " the Son of God," as did 
the Jews in Jerusalem eighteen hundred years ago. You have 
only to read their " Sacred Kulma " to be assured of this spirit, 
and understand their rage against him ; while their fearful deeds in 
1857-8 upon his followers were a commentary on the Kulma, writ- 
ten with Christian blood ; a record over which they gloat, and in 
the extent of which they still glory. Sad and abundant evidence 
of this fact is to follow in these pages ; yet all this hatred and 
determination would have been utterly powerless had it stood 
alone — had the Hindoos not so strangely and unexpectedly united 
themselves with it. 

2. This leads us to the consideration of the peculiar fact which, 
for once, brought the Moslem and Hindoo elements of the country 
into union and a common interest. 

Lord Lake, the English General, had defeated the Mahratta 
chief, Bajee Rao, whose title, the Peishwa, was derived from a 
Brahmin dynasty founded at Poonah by Belajee Wiswanath. 
This title formerly meant Prime Minister, but its holders rose 
from that position to sovereign authority by usurpation and oppor- 
tunity, and, in view of the high-caste assumptions of the Mahratta 
nation, their sovereign seems to have laid claim to a sort of head- 
ship in Hindooism, and so "Peishwa" became a religious as well as 
a secular title, and carried a great influence with it in the estima- 
tion of the Hindoos. 

Duff, the historian of the time, gives a featful picture of the 
licentiousness which prevailed at Bajee Rao's capital in 18 16. and 
of his perfidy in attempting the assassination, by treachery, of Mr. 
Elphinstone, the English Embassador, and in the death of several 
Europeans whom he caused to be killed in cold blood, as well as 
the families of the native troops in their service. His ferocious 




The " Nana Sahib. 



THE NANA SAHIB. l8l 

and vindictive orders, issued on the 5th of November, 1817, fore- 
shadowed too truly other orders of a similar nature issued in July, 
1857, by him to whom he transferred his home and fortune. The 
adopted son was worthy of his putative father. That son was 
Nana Sahib. The name of the author of the Cawnpore massacre 
is, of course, well known. 

The picture of him here presented was drawn by Major O'Gan- 
dini, and sent home from India. He was fat, with that unhealthy 
corpulence which marks the Eastern voluptuary, of sallow complex- 
ion and middle height, with strongly marked features. He did 
not speak a word of English. His age at the time of the massacre 
was about thirty-six years. As this man will ever be identified 
with the sanguinary fame of Cawnpore, it seems appropriate to give 
the reader a more definite account of who he was, and his ante- 
cedents, as furnished by Trevelyan. 

His full name was Seereek Dhoondoo Ptmth, but the execration of 
mankind has found his cluster of titles too long for use, and prefers 
the more familiar appellation of " The Nana Sahib." 

Bajee Rao, the Peishwa of Poonah, was the last monarch of the 
Mahrattas, who, for many years, kept Central India in war and con- 
fusion. The English Government being driven by his faithlessness 
and treachery to dethrone the old man, assigned him a residence at 
Bithoor, a few miles from Cawnpore, which he occupied until his 
death, in 185 1. With his traditions, his annuity of eight lakhs of 
rupees (^400,000) yearly, and his host of retainers, Bajee Rao led a 
splendid life, so far as this world was concerned. But the old Mah- 
ratta had one sore trial : he had no son to inherit his possessions, 
perpetuate his name, and apply the torch to his funeral pyre. This 
last office, according to the Hindoo faith, can only be performed 
properly by a filial hand. In this strait he had recourse to adop- 
tion, a ceremony which, by Hindoo law, entitles the favored indi- 
vidual to all the rights and privileges of an heir born of the body. 
His choice fell upon this Seereek Dhoondoo Punth, who, according 
to some, was the son of a corn merchant of Poonah, while others 
maintain that he was the offspring of a poor Konkanee Brahmin, 



1 82 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and first saw the light at Venn, a miserable little village near Bom- 
bay. The Nana was educated for his position ; and, on the death 
of his benefactor, he entered into possession of his princely home 
and his immense private fortune. But this did not satisfy the 
Nana. He demanded from the British Government, in addition, 
the title and the yearly pension which they had granted to his 
adoptive lather. His claim was disallowed, as the pension was 
purely in the form of an annuity to the late King. But the Nana 
was not to be foiled. Failing with the Calcutta authorities, he 
transferred his appeal to London, and dispatched an agent to 
prosecute it there. This opens another amazing chapter in the his- 
tory of this man. The person selected, and who had so much to 
do afterward with the massacre of the ladies and children, was his 
confidential man of business, Azeemoolah Khan, a clever adven- 
turer, who began life as a kitmutgar — a waiter at table. He thus 
acquired a knowledge of the English tongue, to which he afterward 
added French, and came at length to speak and write both with 
much fluency. Leaving service to pursue his studies, he afterward 
became a school-teacher, and in this latter position attracted the 
notice of the Nana, who made him his Vakeel, or Prime Agent, and 
sent him to London to prosecute his claims. Azeemoolah arrived 
in town during the height of "the season" of 1854, and was wel- 
comed into " society " with no inquiry as to antecedents. Passing 
himself off as an Indian prince, and being abundantly furnished 
with ways and means, and having, withal, a most presentable con- 
tour, he gained admission into the most distinguished circles, mak- 
ing a very decided sensation. He speedily became a lion, and 
obtained more than a lion's share of the sweetest of all flattery — 
the ladies voted him " charming." Handsome and witty, endowed 
with plenty of assurance, and an apparent abundance of diamonds 
and Cashmere shawls, the ex-kitmutgar seemed as fine a gentleman 
as the Prime Minister of Nepaul or the Maharajah of the Punjab, 
both of whom had been lately in London. 

In addition to the political business which he had in hand, Azee- 
moolah was at one time prosecuting a suit of his own of a more 



HIS AGENT AZEEMOOLAH. 1 83 

delicate nature ; but, happily for the fair Englishwoman who was 
the object of his attentions, her friends interfered and saved her 
fiom becoming an item in the harem of this Mohammedan polyga- 
niist. He returned to India by Constantinople, and visited the 
Crimea, where the war was then raging between England and 
Russia. He bore to his master the tidings of his unsuccessful 
efforts on his behalf, but consoled him with the assurance that the 
youthful vigor of the Russian power would soon overthrow the 
decaying strength of England, and then a decisive blow would be 
sufficient to destroy their yoke in the East. Subtle and blood- 
thirsty, Azeemoolah betrayed no animosity until the outburst of 
the Rebellion, and then he became the presiding genius of the 
assault and final massacre. Meanwhile he moved amid English 
society at Cawnpore with such deep dissimulation as to awaken no 
suspicion ; and he was even the whole time carrying on correspond- 
ence with more than one noble lady in England, who had allowed 
herself, in her too confiding disposition, to be betrayed into 
a hasty admiration of this swarthy adventurer : so that, on the 
first day of Havelock's entrance, when he and his men came 
straight from " the Slaughter-House " and fatal Well, to the Palace 
of Bithoor, they discovered, among the possessions of this scoun- 
drel, the letters of these titled ladies, couched in terms of the most 
courteous friendship. How little they suspected the true character 
of their correspondent ! and how bitter and painful were the emotions 
which, under such circumstances, their letters raised in the breasts 
of Havelock's men ! And yet this sleek and wary wretch was edu- 
cated and courtly, even to fascination, while the heart beneath his 
gorgeous vest cherished the purposes of the tiger and the fiend. 
So much for education and refinement without religion or the fear 
of God. 

Dr. Russell, " the Times' Correspondent," mentions having met 
Azeemoolah in the Crimea, seeing with his own eyes how matters 
were going on there. He was fresh from England, where, a few 
weeks before, he might have been seen moving complacently in 
London drawing-rooms, or cantering on Brighton Downs, the 



1 84 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

center of an admiring bevy of English damsels ; but in the Crimea 
the secret of his soul was betrayed when, one evening, in a large 
party, he was incautious enough to remark that the Russians and 
the Turks should cease to quarrel, and join and take India. The 
remark caused some feeling, but aroused no suspicion of the lurk- 
ing vengeance. India could gain nothing by such a change of 
masters. He knew this well enough ; but such a change would 
humble 'England, and probably suspend or annihilate Christian 
missions there : and these results would be to him a full compensa- 
tion for the change. 

The sensual and superstitious Maharajah of Bithoor — as Nana 
Sahib was called — had thus found an agent after his own heart to 
work out his will. Bithoor Palace, where the Nana resided, was 
spacious, and richly furnished in European style. All the recep- 
tion-rooms were decorated with immense mirrors, and massive 
chandeliers in variegated glass, and of the most recent manufac- 
ture ; the floors were covered with the finest productions of the 
Indian looms, and all the appurtenances of Eastern splendor were 
strewed about in amazing profusion ; but it would be impossible to 
lift the vail that must rest on the private life of this man. No- 
where was the mystery of iniquity deeper and darker than in this 
Palace of Bithoor. It was a nest worthy of such a vulture. There 
were apartments in that palace horribly unfit for any human eye, 
where both European and native artists had done their utmost to 
gratify the corrupt master, who was willing to incur any expense 
for the completion of his loathsome picture-gallery. 

In the apartments open to the inspection of English visitors 
there was, of course, nothing that could shock either modesty or 
humanity, though a person of fastidious taste might take exception 
to the arrangement of the heterogeneous collection of furniture and 
decorations with which the Nana Sahib had filled his house when 
he aimed to blend the complicated domestic appliances of the 
European with the few and simple requirements of the Oriental. 

The Maharajah had a large and excellent stable of horses, ele- 
phants, and camels ; a well-appointed kennel ; a menagerie of 



A HTPOGBITE WHO HAS NO EQUAL. 1 85 

pigeons, falcons, peacocks, and apes, which would have dor.e credit 
to any Eastern monarch from the days of Solomon downward. 
His armory was stocked with weapons of every age and country ; 
his reception-rooms sparkled with mirrors and chandeliers that had 
come direct from Birmingham ; his equipages had stood within a 
twelvemonth in the warehouses of London. He possessed a vast 
store of gold and silver plate, and his wardrobe overflowed with 
Cashmere shawls and jewelry, which, when exhibited on gala days, 
were regarded with longing eyes by the English ladies of Cawn- 
pore : for the Nana seldom missed an occasion for giving a ball 
or a banquet in European style to the society of the station, 
although he would never accept an entertainment in return, 
because the English Government, which refused to regard him as 
a royal personage, would not allow him the honor of a salute of 
twenty-one guns. On these occasions the Maharajah presented 
himself in his panoply of kincob and Cashmere, crowned with a 
tiara of pearls and diamonds — as here represented — the great ruby 
in the center, and girt with old Bajee Rao's sword of State, which 
report valued at three lakhs of rupees, (^150,000.) The Maharajah 
mixed freely with the company, inquired after the health of the 
Major's lady, congratulated the Judge on his rumored promotion 
to the Supreme Court, joked the Assistant Magistrate about his 
last mishap in the hunting-field, and complimented the belle of the 
evening on the color she had brought down from the hills of 
Simla. 

All this was going on when the writer was in Cawnpore in the 
fall of 1856. These costly festivities were then provided for and 
enjoyed by the very persons — ladies, children, and gentlemen — 
who were, before ten months had passed, ruthlessly butchered in 
cold blood by their quondam host. Till his hour arrived nothing 
could exceed the cordiality which he managed to display in his 
intercourse with the English. The persons in authority placed 
implicit confidence in his friendship and good faith, and the young 
officers emphatically pronounced him " a capital fellow." He had 
a nod, a kind word, for every Englishman in the station ; hunting 



1 86 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

parties and jewelry for the men, and picnics and Cashmere shawls 
for the ladies. If a subaltern's wife required change of air the Ma- 
harajah's carriage was at the service of the young couple, and the 
European apartments at Bithoor were put in order to receive them. 
If a civilian had overworked himself in court, he had but to speak 
:he word, and the Maharajah's elephants were sent to the Oude 
jungles for him to go tiger hunting; but none the less did he 
ever, for a moment, forget the grudge he bore the English people. 
While his face was all smiles, in his heart of hearts he brooded 
over the judgment of the Government, and the refusal of his de- 
spised claim. 

The men who, with his presented sapphires and rubies glitter- 
ing on their fingers, sat there laughing around his table, had each 
and all been doomed to die by a warrant that admitted of no appeal. 
He had sworn that the injustice should be expiated by the blood 
of ladies who had never heard his grievance named, of babies who 
had been born years after the question of that grievance had 
passed into oblivion. The great crime of Cawnpore blackened the 
pages of history with a far deeper stain than Sicilian vespers or 
St. Bartholomew massacres, for this atrocious deed was prompted 
neither by diseased nor mistaken patriotism, nor by the madness 
of superstition. The motives of the deed were as mean as the 
execution was cowardly and treacherous. Among the subordinate 
villains there might be some who were possessed by bigotry and 
class hatred, but Nana Sahib was actuated by no higher impulses 
than ruffled pride and disappointed avarice. 

The Hindoos, and particularly the military class of them, looked 
up to this man as their Peishwa. His position gave him immense 
influence. They would go with him to the side which he espoused. 
It is understood that he was tampered with, and made a tool of, by 
the Delhi faction under promise that when the English were ex- 
pelled the country the Emperor would recognize his claims, and 
give him the throne of his reputed father at Poonah ; so he threw 
in his lot with the conspiracy and bided his time. 

3. The Mohammedan monopoly of place and power is another 



THEIR NUMBEBS AND ADVANTAGE. 1 87 

consideration to be remembered in understanding the character 
and extent of this vast combination against Christian civilization. 

This gave them their opportunity to organize their plans and 
work up the conspiracy. The Sepoy army, with the " Contingents " 
at native courts, native police, and, we may also add, the armed 
followers of the Rajahs and Nawabs who favored the rising, con- 
stituted an armed body of men fully five hundred thousand strong 
— the life and soul of the whole being the native " Bengal Array," 
very largely Brahminical. Over these ignorant, superstitious, and 
fanatical forces, whether as military, commissariat, civil, legal, or 
financial subordinate officers, were these Mohammedan officials, so 
that a perfect organization, from Delhi throughout the whole land, 
was being formed, and it only now needed safe means of commu- 
nication between the several parts, so that the central conspiracy 
could receive information or send its arrangements through men 
whom it could entirely trust, and who were its willing and ready 
agents. But this, too, was supplied, as we shall see. 

The Sepoy army mounted guard upon the forts, the magazines, 
and the treasuries of India ; and when their hour had come, and all 
was prepared, they held in their own hands the key of the coined 
millions of the public money, its vast stores of munitions of war, 
and its strong places. The total of European troops then in India 
was exactly 45,522, of all arms ; but of these 21,156 were away in 
Madras and Bombay, leaving only 24,366 for the East, center, and 
Punjab, and more than two thirds of these were off" on the West- 
ern frontiers and in Burmah, so that in the entire Valley of the 
Ganges there were but two half regiments, one with Sir H. Law- 
rence in Lucknow, and the other at Cawnpore. 

4. India was then not only without railroads, but was even desti- 
tute of common roads, while the rivers were unbridged, and there 
was every natural difficulty in the way of an army of white men 
moving through the land, with the heavy impedimenta which they 
require in such a climate, and in which respect the native troops, 
being so much less encumbered, so much more at home in the 
heat, and so well acquainted with the country, had their enemy at 



1 88 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

every disadvantage, and especially as they sprung the struggle 
upon them in the very midst of the hot season, when sun-stroke 
would be sure to lay low more than were prostrated by the bullet. 

To show the importance of one aspect of this difficulty : In 
1856 there was but one made road in North India — "the Grand 
Trunk," so called, from Calcutta to the Punjab. General Anson, 
the English Commander-in-chief, on the first alarm on the loth of 
May, commenced to collect his forces and march upon Delhi. The 
distance was under four hundred miles ; but so wretched were the 
roads, and having to drag his artillery through rivers, it was the 
8th of June when his army reached Delhi, and nine tenths of all 
the massacre and mischief were accomplished during those twenty- 
eight days. On the other side the river the conditions of travel 
were equally bad. The Soane River is crossed by this Grand 
Trunk Road. There was, in 1856, no way but to drag through its 
deep sands and widespread waters with bullocks — I have been four 
hours going from one side to the other ; and the wise Government, 
that for one hundred years had neglected to build a bridge, had 
erected a dak Bungalow (Travelers' Rest House) on either bank, to 
meet the clear necessity that if you had breakfasted on one side 
you would need your dinner when you reached the other ! What 
it was to take troops, artillery, and commissariat through such a 
country the reader can imagine. 

It is a consolation to add, as a sign of that wonderful progress 
toward a better state of things on which India has since entered, 
that I had the satisfaction of crossing that same Soane River in 
1864 in a few minutes on a first-class railroad bridge, and to-day 
General Anson could come from Umballa to Delhi in twenty-four 
hours. 

5. The annexation of Oude — the home of the Sepoy — and where, 
while it was under native administration, the military classes that 
took service under the British Government had peculiar privileges 
that annexation would annul, leaving them equal before the law 
with the rest of the people : this, with the turbulent character of 
the Talookdars (or Barons) of Oude, who held themselves above 



DREAD OF GHEISTIAW CIVILIZATIOK 1B9 

law, and defied their King to collect revenue from them, or exact 
their obedience, along with the thousands of persons who made 
a Hving by the Court, and their relation to its duties, intrigues, 
necessities, and viceg, and whose occupation would be gone were 
the country annexed and British rule introduced — all these were 
aroused to a pitch of frenzy when the plot was actually consum- 
mated, and were ready to join in any enterprise, no matter how 
wild or desperate, that promised an overthrow of the new condi- 
tion of things. And, finally, 

6. To these elements of disturbance and eager watchfulness for 
a change, has to be added the great fact of the growing fear of the 
extension of the Christian religion, and the founding of new Mis- 
sions in the land, with the consequent and widespread fear that 
their own faiths were in imminent danger of overthrow. Confound- 
ing every white man with the Government, and regarding him as 
most certainly in the service and pay of the EngHsh, they looked 
upon each Missionary as an emissary, backed up by the entire 
power and resources of the Administration, and to be correspond- 
ingly feared. This was the general view, (of course the more 
enlightened knew better,) and the interested parties took good care 
to intensify it to the utmost of their ability. 

The very pains taken by the English officials to deny it, and 
present the Government doctrine of " Neutrality," only made mat- 
ters worse ; for Hindoos and Mohammedans could not imagine a 
ruling power without a rehgion, or without zeal for diffusion of its 
own faith. The denial, therefore, was not believed ; it only intensi- 
fied the conviction of the people that these words were used to 
conceal the truth, and could only be used as a pretext to blind 
them for the present, till the English were fully prepared for the 
most determined action against their castes and their faiths. So 
that every movement was watched, and every act misinterpreted ; 
a,nd those in high places were distracted by prejudices which were 
too blind and fanatical to allow them to listen to reason. 

My own appearance in Lucknow and Bareilly as a Missionary, 
and the pioneer of a band soon to follow, caused a great deal of 
13 



igo THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

talk and excitement, and was pointed to as a part of the plan which 
the Government was maturing against their religions. 

They could also refer to the steady encroachments of Christian 
law upon their cherished institutions. Suttee had been prohibited, 
female infanticide made penal, the right of a convert to inherit 
property vindicated, the remarriage of widows made lawful, self- 
inmiolation at Juggernaut interdicted, Thuggeeism suppressed, 
caste slighted — and they dreaded what might come next, ere they 
should be entrapped into an utter loss of caste, and forced to em- 
brace the Christian faith. 

Such was the peculiar combination of circumstances that in 1856 
gave to the disaffected portion of the people of India the opportu- 
nity to concentrate their energies, under the most favorable condi- 
tions of success, to strike a blow that would at once overthrow 
Christianity and English rule forever, and restore, as they thought, 
native supremacy and the abrogated institutions of their respective 
faiths. They really imagined that if they could but wipe out the 
few thousand English in the land their work would be done, and 
that Great Britain either could not, or would not, replace them, 
especially in view of the resistance to a re-occupation which they 
could then present. 

In addition to the elements of preparation which have been 
already presented, there was needed, for their safety and success in 
their terrible enterprise, that the conspirators should have a medium 
of communication between the various parts of the country and 
those who were working with them, as, also, an agency to win over 
the wavering and consolidate the whole power, so that it might be 
well in hand when the time for action should come. 

The post-office was soon distrusted as a medium of communica- 
tion ; nor did it quite answer their purpose. They needed a living 
agency. This was essential, and one, too, whose constant move- 
ments would occasion no surprise ; but just such emissaries as they 
required were ready at hand in the persons of the Fakirs, or wan- 
dering saints of Hindustan. 

No account of India, or of the Sepoy Rebellion, would be com- 



THE FAKIBS. I91 

plete which did not include a proper description of these Fakirs. 
They are the saints of the Mohammedan and Hindoo systems. 
These horrible looking men, with their disheveled hair, naked bod- 
ies, and painted breasts and foreheads, are constantly roving over 
the country, visiting shrines, making pilgrimages, and performing 
religious services for their disciples. The Sepoys greatly honored 
and liberally patronized these spiritual guides. The post-office 
failing them, the chiefs of the conspiracy linked these Fakirs into 
the enterprise as the medium of communication ; and they were so 
stationed that the orders transmitted, or the information desired, 
could be forwarded with a celerity and safety that was amazing. 

It may be desired, for the sake of the information on this singular 
topic, to digress a little just here, before proceeding with the narra- 
tive. Of all the curses under which India and her daughters groan, 
it may safely be said that this profession of the Fakirs is one of the 
heaviest and most debasing. The world has not often beheld a 
truer illustration of putting "darkness for light" than is afforded in 
the character and influence of these ignorant, beastly-looking men 
— fellows that in any civilized land would be indicted as " common 
vagrants," or hooted out of society as an intolerable outrage upon 
decency. But they swarm in India, infesting its highways, crowding 
its ghats and temples, creeping into its homes, and leading captive 
its poor, silly women. They hold the general mind of India in such 
craven fear that the courtly Rajah, riding in his silver howdah on 
the back of his elephant, and surrounded by his retinue, will often 
rise from his seat and salaam to one of these wretches as he goes by. 

The Law-giver of India, while so jealously providing for the 
seclusion of the ladies of the land, expressly relaxes the rules in 
favor of four classes of men — Fakirs, Bards, Brahmins and then 
own servants — in the following section of the Code : " Mendicants, 
encomiasts, men prepared for a sacrifice, cooks, and other artisans 
are not prohibited from speaking to married women." — Sec. 360. 
chap. viii. They can exercise their discretion how far they shall 
unvail themselves before them, though in their intercourse with 
Brahmins and Fakirs all restriction is usually laid aside. They are 



192 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

as absolutely in their power as the female penitents of the Romish 
Church are in that of their priesthood, and even more so. 

This state of things has lasted for long ages past. Alexander 
the Great, in his invasion of India, 326 B. C, found these very men 
as we see them there to-day. The historians of his expedition give 
us accurate descriptions of them, The Greeks were evidently 
amused and astonished at the sight of these ascetics, and, having 
no word in their language to describe them, they invented a new 
term, and called them GymnosopJdsts, (from gumnos, naked, and 
sophos, wise.) The patient endurance of pain and privation, the 
complete abstraction of some, the free quotations of the Shaster 
Slokes and maxims of their philosophy by the others, led the 
amazed Alexander and his troops to designate them as " Naked 
Philosophers," more literally so than the pictures here presented, for, 
though in my possession, I did not dare to have those engraved 
whose nudity would have more fully justified the Greek designa- 
tion ; but they are still there, and of that class of the Fakirs a few 
words farther on will be in place. 

The word " Fakir " (pronounced Fa-keer, with the a broad) is 
an Arabic term signifying " poor," or a " poor man," because they 
profess to have taken the vow of poverty, and, in theory, hold them- 
selves above the necessity of home, property, or money, realizing 
their living as a religious right from the people wherever they 
come. 

Some wander from place to place, some go on pilgrimages, and 
others locate themselves under a great banyan tree, or in the 
depths of a forest in some ruinous shrine or tomb, or on the bank 
of a river, and there receive the homage and offerings of their 
votaries. 

I have often stood and looked at them in the wild jungle, miles 
away from a human habitation, filthy, naked, daubed with ashes 
and paint, and thought how like they seemed to those wretched 
creatures whom a merciful Saviour released from the power of evil 
sjiirits, and so compassionately restored to decency, to friends, and 
to their right minds. 



8ELF-T0BTUBINQ FAKIRS. 195 

Some few of these Fakirs are undoubtedly sincere in their pio- 
fession of giving up the world, and its social and domestic relations, 
to embrace lives of solitude, mortification, or self-torture, or to 
devote themselves- to a course of religious contemplation and 
asceticism ; others of them do it from a motive of vain-glory, to be 
honored and worshiped by their deluded followers ; while both of 
these classes expect, in addition, to accumulate thereby a stock of 
merit that will avail them in the next transmigration, and hasten 
their absorption into Brahm. But no one who has seen and 
known them can doubt that the great majority of the Fakirs are 
impostors and hypocrites. 

A glance at the picture will enable the reader more fully to 
understand the descriptions which follow. These wear some 
clothing, but not much. The hair of the head is permitted to 
o-row — in some cases not cut, and evidently not combed — from the 
time when they enter upon this profession. It grows at length 
longer than the body, when it is wound around the head in a rope- 
like coil, and is fastened with a wooden pin. The figure on the 
left hand of the picture in front is one of these. Having some 
doubts whether there was not some " make-believe " in the huge 
roll, I questioned a Fakir one day about it. Seizing the big pin, 
he pulled it out, and down fell the long line of hair trailing after 
him. It was, sure enough, all his own hair. 

But even these are not the worst of the class. Quite a number 
of them give up wandering and locate, and engage in the most 
amazing manifestations of endurance and self-torture. A few must 
be mentioned. One will lash a pole to his body and fasten the arm 
to it, pointing upward, and endure the pain till that limb becomes 
rigid and cannot be taken down again. The pole is then removed. 
I saw one of them with both arms thus fixed, his hands some eight- 
een inches higher than his head, and utterly immovable. Some of 
them have been known to close the hand, and hold it so until the 
nails penetrated the flesh, and came out on the other side. Taver- 
nier and others give engravings of some who have stood on one leg 
for years, and others who never lie down, supported only by a stick 



196 



THE LAND Ojf THE VEDA. 



or rope under their armpits, their legs meanwhile growing into hid- 
eous deformity, and breaking out in ulcers. Sticking a spear 
through the protruaed tongue, or through the arm, is practiced, and 
so is hook-swinging — running sharp hooks through the small of the 
back deep enough to bear the man's weight — when he is raised 
twenty or thirty feet into the air and swung around. Some will lie 




A Self-tortaring Fakir. 

for years on beds of iron spikes, like the one here represented, read- 
ing their Shaster and counting their beads ; while their ranks furnish 
many of the voluntary victims who have immolated themselves be- 
neath the wheels of Juggernaut. But there are tens of thousands 
of them who take to the profession simply because it gives them a 
living off the public, and who are mere wandering vagabonds. 

Many of them are animated by another class of motives. These 
hunger for fa7ne — they have become Fakirs for the honor of the 
thing — are willing to suffer that they may be respected and adored 
by those who witness in wonder the amazing self-tortures which 
they will endure. An instance which may be worth relating will 
illustrate this aspect of the subject. It was turned into verse by a 
humorous Englishman when the case occurred, and we present it 
here. One of these self-glorifying Fakirs, after graduating to saint- 



THE 8ELF-aL0BIFI0ATI0N MOTIVE. l^y 

ship by long years of austerities and extensive pilgrimages, took it 
I'nto his head that he could still further exalt his fame by riding 
about in a sort of Sedan chair with the seat stuck full of nails. 
Foui men carried him from town to town, shaking him as little as 
possible. Great was the admiration of his endurance which awaited 
him every-where. At length (no doubt when his condition had 
become such that he was for the time disposed to listen to some 
friendly advice) a rich native gentleman, somewhat skeptical as to 
the value and need of this discipline, met him and tried very ear- 
nestly to persuade him to quit his uncomfortable seat, and have mercy 
upon himself But here let Mr. Cambridge give the reasoning of the 
kind-hearted native, and point the moral of the story. He says to 
the Fakir : 

" ' Can such wretches as you give to madness a vogue ? 

Though the priesthood of Fo on the vulgar impose 

By squinting whole years at the end of their nose — 

Though with cruel devices of mortification 

They adore a vain idol of modern creation — 

Does the God of the heavens such a service direct ? 

Can his Mercy approve a self-punishing sect ? 

Will his Wisdom be worshiped with chains and with nails, 

Or e'er look for his rites in your noses and tails? 

Come along to my house, and these penances leave, 

Give your belly a feast, and your breech a reprieve.' 

This reasoning unhinged each fanatical notion, 
And staggered our saint in his chair of promotion. 
At length, with reluctance, he rose from his seat, 
And, resigning his nails and his fame for retreat, 
Two weeks his new life he admired and enjoyed; 
The third he with plenty and quiet was cloyed ; 
To live tcndtstingidshed to him was the pain. 
An existence unnoticed he could not sustain. 
In retirement he sighed for the fame-giving chair. 
For the crowd to admire him, to reverence and stare : 
No endearments of pleasure and ease could prevail. 
He the saintship resumed, and new-larded his tail." 

The reference in the third line — to " squinting whole years at 
the end ot his nose," is a serious subject, and will be explained 
hereafter. 

Sometimes Fakirs will undertake to perform a very pamful and 
lengthened exercise in measuring the distance to the " sacred" city 
of Benares from some point, such as a shrine or famous temple, 



198 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

even hundreds of miles away, though months or years may be 
required to complete the journey. I had once the opportunity of 
seeing one of these men performing this feat. When I met him he 
was on the Grand Trunk Road, over two hundred and forty miles 
from l^enares. He had already accomplished about two hundred 
miles. A crowd accompanied him from village to village, as men 
turn out here to see Weston walk. He was a miserable-looking 
object, covered from the crown of his head to his feet with dust 
and mud. He would lay himself down flat on the road, his face in 
the dust, and with his finger would make a mark in front of his 
head on the ground ; then he would rise and put his toes in that 
mark, and down he would go again, flat and at full length, make 
another line, rise, and put his toes in that, and so on, throughout the 
live-long day. When tired out he would make such a mark on the 
side of the road as he could safely find next morning, and then 
go back with the crowd to the last village which he had passed, 
where he would be feted and honored, and next day would return 
to his mark and renew his weary way. I could not find out how 
much progress he usually made. It must have been very slow 
work — certainly less than one mile per day ; and what weary months 
of hard toil lay between him and Benares is apparent. These 
wretches thus choose, and voluntarily lay upon themselves, penal- 
ties that no civilized government on earth would venture to inflict 
upon its most hardened criminals. 

Some of these Yogees, in view of their supposed sanctity and 
superiority to all external considerations, hold themselves above 
obedience to law or the claims of common decency. I have myself 
seer, one of them in the streets of Benares, in the middle of the 
day, when they were crowded with men and women — a man evi- 
dently over forty years of age — as naked as he was born, walking 
through the throng with the most complete shamelessness and 
unconcern! And if it were not for the terror of the English 
magistrate's order and whip, instead of one in a while, hundreds 
of these "naked philosophers" would scandalize those streets 
every day in the year, and " glory in their shame." 



THE RULES OF HINDOO PERFECTION. 201 

There is a further aspect of this subject, and one so singular and 
serious that the reader will be as much surprised at the alleged 
divine law which requires it, as the sole and only path to moral 
])unty and ultimate perfection, as he will be that men have ever 
been found who would undertake to conform themselves to the 
amazing and unique discipline by which it is to be attained. We 
may talk of self-denial and cross-bearing, but did the history of 
human endurance ever present any thing equal to the requirements 
of the following teachings ? 

In all the wide range of Hindoo Literature it is conceded that 
there is nothing so sublime, and even pure, as the disquisitions con- 
tained in the Bhagvat Geeta, {Bhagvat, Lord, Geeta, song — "the 
Song of the Lord.") This book is an episode of the celebrated 
MaJiabarata, and consists of conversations between the divine 
Kreeshna, (the incarnate God of the Hindoos, in his last avatar, 
or descent to earth in mortal form,) and his favorite pupil, the 
valiant Arjoona, commander-in-chief of the Pandoo forces. 

Arjoona is religious as well as heroic, and in deep anxiety to 
know by what spiritual discipline he may reach perfection and 
permanent union with God. His Incarnate Deity undertakes to 
enlighten him in the following instructions. 

To assist the reader in comprehending the teachings of this 
whimsical method of reaching " the higher life," as practiced by 
the most sincere and yearning of India's religious devotees, I pre- 
sent a faithful picture of one of the class described, and who is at the 
same time one of the most celebrated of the Yogee order, just as I 
have seen him in Delhi, where the photograph was taken. The 
Yogee is the central figure. The Fakir standing is his attendant ; 
the man to the right is one of the Yogee's devotees or worshipers, 
come to p?.y him the usual homage, expressed by his clasped hands. 
The Saint is silent, engaged in the meditation and abstraction, the 
rules of which we are going to present. His body is daubed with 
ashes till he looks as if covered with leprosy ; the marks on his 
forehead are red, as they are on the face, and breast, and arms of 
his attendant. He holds no converse with mortal man, nor has he 



202 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

done so for years. The Governor-General of India might pass by, 
but he would not condescend to look at him, nor deign a word of 
reply were he to speak to him. He is supposed to be dead to all 
things here below, and to have every sense and faculty absorbed in 
the contemplations enjoined in the following words of the Deity : 

Kreeshna says to Arjoona : " The man who keepeth the outward 
accidents from entering his mind, and his eyes fixed in contempla- 
tion between his brows — who maketh the breath to pass through 
both his nostrils alike m expiration and inspiration — who is of sub- 
dued faculties, mind, and understanding, and hath set his heart 
upon salvation, and who is free from lust, fear, and anger — is for- 
ever blessed in this life ; and being convinced that I am the cher- 
isher of religious zeal, the lord of all worlds, and the friend of all 
nature, he shall obtain me and be blessed. 

" The Yogee constantly exerciseth the spirit in private. He is 
recluse, of a subdued mind and spirit, free from hope, and free from 
perception. He planteth his own seat firmly on a spot that is 
undefiled, neither too high nor too low, and sitteth on the sacred 
grass which is called Koos, covered with a skin and a cloth. Here 
he whose business is the restraining of his passions should sit, with 
his mind fixed on one object alone, in the exercise of his devotion 
for the purification of his soul, keeping his head, his neck, and 
body steady without motion, his eyes fixed on the point of his nose, 
looking at no other place around. The peaceful soul released from 
fear, who would keep in the path of one who followed god, should 
restrain the mind, and, fixing it on me, depend on me alone. The 
Yogee of an humble mind, who thus constantly exerciseth his soul, 
obtaineth happiness incorporeal and supreme in me." — BJiagvat 
Geeta, pp. 46-48. 

It was one of these men, sitting thus naked, filthy, and supercili- 
ous, upon the steps of the Benares Ghat, receiving the homage and 
worship of the people, that drew from Bishop Thomson that strong 
remark which made such an impression upon those who heard him 
utter it. 

The reader will bear in mind that Yog means the practice of 



NUMBERS AND EXPENSE OF HINDOO SAINTS. 203 

devotion in this special sense, and a Yogee is one devoted to God ; 
and such a man as the one here presented is the highest style of 
saint that Hindoo theology or its Patanjala (School of Philosophy) 
can know. The demands of these tenets, and the amazing suprem- 
acy which their practice confers on such a devotee as this, are so 
extraordinary and beyond belief, that, instead of my own language, 
I prefer to state them in the words of Professor H. H. Wilson, the 
translator of the Veda. Describing the discipline of the Yogees, 
and the exaltations which they aim at, he says : " These practices con- 
sist chiefly of long-continued suppression of respiration ; of inhaling 
and exhaling the breath in a particular manner ; of sitting in eighty- 
four different attitudes ; of fixing their eyes on the tips of their 
noses, and endeavoring by the force of mental abstraction to effect 
a union between the portion of vital spirit residing in the body and 
that which pervades all nature, and is identical with Shiva, consid- 
ered as the supreme being, and source and essence of all creation. 
When this mystic union is effected, the Yogee is liberated in his 
living body from the clog of material encumbrance, and acquires an 
entire command over all worldly substance. He can make himself 
lighter than the lightest substances, heavier than the heaviest ; can 
become as vast or as minute as he pleases ; can traverse all space ; 
can animate any dead body by transferring his spirit into it from 
his own frame; can render himself invisible ; can attain all objects ; 
become equally acquainted with the past, present, and future ; and 
is finally united with Shiva, and consequently exempted from being 
born again upon earth. The superhuman faculties are acquired in 
various degrees, according to the greater or less perfection with 
which the initiatory processes have been performed." All this is 
implicitly believed of them by their devotees, and they are honored 
accordingly with a boundless reverence. 

The number of persons in the various orders of Yogees and 
Fakirs all over India must be immense. D'Herbelot, in his Biblio- 
theqtie Orientate, estimates them at 2,000,000, of which he thinks 
800,000 are Mohammedan Fakirs. Ward's estimate seems to sus- 
tain this. But the influence of the British Government and its 



204 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

laws, and the extension of education and missionary teaching, are 
steadily tending to the reduction of the number, by lowering the 
popular respect for the lazy crew that have so long consumed the 
industry of the struggling and superstitious people. 

The expense of supporting them, at the lowest estimate — say two 
rupees per month for each Fakir — involves a drain of ^12,000,000 
per annum upon the industry of the country — a sum equal to what 
is contributed for the support of all the Christian clergy of the United 
States. Yet this is only one item of what their religion costs the 
Hindoos. Besides this come the claims of the regular priesthood, 
then of the Brahmins, then of the astrologers, encomiasts, etc., 
which this system creates — and Ward says they, with the Fakirs, 
make up in Bengal about one eighth of the population — millions 
of men year after year thus sponging upon their fellows, and 
engendering the ignorance, the superstition, the vice, the men- 
dicity, the sycophancy, that necessitate a foreign rule in their 
magnificent land, as the only arrangement under which the major- 
ity could know peace, and be safe in possession of the few advan- 
tages which they enjoy. Truly heathenism — and above all Hindoo 
heathenism — is an expensive system of social and national life for 
any people. Error and vice don't pay. They are dearer far than 
truth and virtue under any circumstances. 

Welcoming to their ranks, as they did, every vagabond of ability 
who had an aversion to labor, before the introduction of the British 
rule, these Fakirs, under pretenses of pilgrimages, used to wander, 
like the Gypsies of the West, over the country in bands of several 
thousands, but holding their character so sacred that the civil 
power dare not take cognizance of their conduct ; so they would 
often lay entire neighborhoods under contribution, rob people of 
their wives, and commit any amount of enormities. In Dow's 
" Ferishta," Vol. HI, there is a singular account of a combination 
of them, twenty thousand strong, raising a rebellion against the 
Emperor Aurungzebe, selecting as their leader an old woman 
named Bistemia, who enjoyed a high fame for her spells and great 
skill in the magic art. The Emperor's general was something of 



MILITANT SAINTS. 205 

a wit He gave out that he would resist her incantations by written 
spells, which he would put into the hands of his officers. His proved 
the more powerful, for a good reason : a battle, or rather a carnage, 
ensued, in which the old lady and her Fakir host were simply anni- 
hilated. Aurungzebe met his general, and, the historian tells us, 
had a good laugh with him over the success of his "spells." Even 
as late as 1778 these militant saints thought themselves strong 
enough to measure swords with English troops, attacking Colonel 
Goddard in his march to Herapoor. But the Colonel, though much 
more merciful than the Mohammedan General, taught them by the 
sacrifice of a score or more of their number that they had better 
let carnal weapons alone. Though still saucy enough to the weak, 
they have ceased to act together in masses, or carry a vorse weapon 
than a club in their peregrinations. 

Usually each wandering Fakir has a religious relation to the 
high priest of some leading temple, and to him he surrenders some 
portion of the financial results of each tour at its termination. In 
view of this fact, they claim free quarters in all the temples which 
they pass. Their wide range of intercourse tends to make them 
well acquainted with public affairs — they hear all that is going on. 
and know the state of feeling and opinion, and communicate to 
their patron priests the information which they gather as they go. 

This, then, was "the secret service" organized by the conspirators 
of the Sepoy RebeUion to convey their purposes and instructions — 
when they concluded that the post-office was no longer safe to 
them — and a very efficient and devoted " service " it proved to be 
for their objects. 

One of Havelock's soldiers gave me a string of praying beads 

which he took from one of these Fakirs before they executed him 

They intercepted him on his way to a Brigade of Sepoys, who had 

not yet risen, with a document concealed on his person from the 

Delhi leaders, directing the brigade to rise at once and kill then 

officers and the ladies and children of their station, and march 

immediately for Delhi to help the Emperor against the English. 

With this missive upon him, the Fakir — a stout, able fellow — was 
14 



2o6 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

passing Havelock's camp, when his movements attracted attention, 
and he was stopped. The interpreter was sent for, and the man 
interrogated. He gave a plausible account of himself — was a Holy 
Fakir, on his way to a certain shrine beyond, to perform his devo- 
tion — all the time twirling his beads in mental prayer, and so 
abstracted he could hardly condescend to reply to their inquiries. 
Some were for letting him go ; others, who did not like his looks., 
thought it better to search him before doing so, when the terrible 
missive that was to plunge into a sudden and cruel death some 
forty English people, more than half of them ladies and children, 
was found upon him, and he was at once told to prepare for death. 
They gave him five minutes, and then dropped him by the road- 
side with the bullet. He held his beads to the last, and the soldier 
who took them from his hands gave them to me. But there were 
thousands of such agents at their command, and the loss of a few 
made little difference to the enterprise. 

Out of the Presidency cities (Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay) 
there were then no hotels, and, save the Dak Bungalows (Travelers' 
Rest Houses) on the leading roads, a stranger was thrown entirely 
upon the hospitality of the civil and military officers of the English. 
Government as he moved through the country. Freely and cor- 
dially was this hospitality extended to all comers, our kind hosts 
seeming to regard each visitant as conferring a favor rather than 
receiving it. On his departure they furnished him with a note of 
introduction to a friend in the next station, and there the same 
courtesy and attention were repeated. 

Thrown thus so much and so constantly into the society of these 
gentlemen and their families, we were especiall)^ as American 
strangers and missionaries, regarded with considerable interest, 
and our future success discussed from a variety of stand-points, 
according to the degree and character of the religious views and 
feelings of our kind entertainers. We had gone to India under the 
idea that it was a country whose tranquillity was fully assured, and 
whose peace could not be disturbed by any events likely to arise 
from any quarter. Our amazement may be imagined when we 



ANNEXATION OF OUDE. 207 

discoveied, as we so soon did, that there were apprehensions in the 
minds of many of these gentlemen of the existence of something 
unsafe, and even dangerous, around them ; but as others of them 
treated the matter very lightly, and even ridiculed the idea of any 
necessity for anxiety, we, on our part, concluded that it Avas no par • 
ticular business of ours, so we went on with our duty, leaving the 
future to be guided and controlled by the great Protector whom we 
were serving. 

On reaching Lucknow, November 29, 1856, we found, rather to 
our surprise, that our note of introduction was to billet us in the 
" Residency," (so famous for its siege and relief by General Have- 
lock ten months later.) Lucknow was the splendid capital of the 
kingdom of Oude, whose sovereign, Wajid Ali Shah, had just been 
removed to Calcutta, and his dominions annexed by the British 
Government, on account of the long-continued misrule and oppres- 
sion that had made Oude a neighborhood of misery and rapine to 
all the country around it. What the condition of its King and 
Court were is stated, without exaggeration, in a work issued from 
the American press about 1854, entitled "The Private Life of an 
Eastern King," and also in Sleeman's " Recollections," and othei 
publications. Few sovereigns have ever been so utterly forgetful 
of the duties of a governor of men, or more thoroughly steeped in 
selfishness and sensuality, than was Wajid Ali Shah. His terri- 
tories at length, from his misrule and neglect, became an unequaled 
scene of outrage and bloodshed, and a refuge for the dacoits (rob- 
bers) of Northicrn India, who would cross the Ganges at night and 
plunder in the British Territories all around, making good their 
retreat into Oude before daylight. Complaints were presented for 
years, and threats of annexation were served upon him, till they 
ceased to be heeded by the besotted and reckless man, whose cruel- 
ties and neglect of his people (in which, however, he only imitated 
each of his predecessors) led at last to his being removed from the 
throne he disgraced. He was transferred to Calcutta in the spring 
of 1856, and there, on a pension about equal to his royal reve- 
nues, he prosecutes his debaucheries without ruining a kingdom 



208 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

any longer. The British Government annexed Oude to their terri- 
tories, greatly to its relief and advantage. I present a picture of 
this royal sot, as he loved to display himself in all his jewels and 
finery. 

During the week that we remained at Lucknow we were kindly 
entertained by a member of the new Government, (at the head of 
which was the celebrated Sir Henry Lawrence.) Every facility 
was afforded me in prosecuting my inquiries, and all information 
that I needed about the country, its condition and statistics, were 
freely communicated. 

Lucknow then well deserved the character, so far as its external 
aspect was concerned, which Bayard Taylor gives it in his " India, 
China, and Japan," when, standing on the iron bridge which spans 
the Goomtee, he exclaims, " All was lovely as the outer court of 
Paradise ! " But, in what moral corruption were its five hundred 
thousand inhabitants seething! I had never before seen any 
thing approaching its aspect of depravity and armed violence. 
Every man carried a weapon — even the trader's sword lay beside 
his goods, ready to defend them against the lawless. I had not 
supposed there was a community of men in this world, such fero- 
cious Ishmaelites, as I saw in that city. It was not safe for an 
unarmed man, black or white, to move among them. And, indeed, 
when I wanted to see the city thoroughly, it was considered essen- 
tial to my safety that I should not go alone or unattended, so they 
kindly mounted me on the back of an elephant in a Government 
howdah, and gave me a Sepoy escort ; and thus elevated, so that I 
could see every thing on the flat-roofed houses, and in the courts 
and streets below, I made my first acquaintance with the city of 
Lucknow, and saw heathenism and Mohammedanism in their unut- 
terable vileness. I returned to the Residency in the evening sick 
at heart, and, for the moment, discouraged at the fearful task which 
we were undertaking, to save and Christianize such people. 

Outside the city the whole country was a sort of camp. The 
Sepoy army was drawn chiefly from this military class of men. 
Indeed, the city of Lucknow was the capital of the Sepoy race. 




Wajid Ali Shah, last King of Oude. 



THOSE WHO NEEDED US MOST. 211 

The Talookdars (barons) of Oude (each in his own talook, setting 
up for himself, holding all he had, and taking all he was able to snatch 
from his neighbors) often defied their King, and refused to pay 
the junima, (revenue,) and he could not obtain it unless by force of 
arms ; and even here he was frequently defeated by their combining 
their forces against him. Mr. Mead has fully shown in his work— 
"The Sepoy Revolt" — how truly Oude had been for generations 
the paradise of adventurers, the Alsatia of India, the nursing-place 
and sanctuary of scoundrelism, almost beyond a parallel on earth. 
Sir William Sleeman's work on Oude is probably the most fearful 
record of aristocratic violence, perfidy, and blood, that has ever been 
compiled ; yet it is written by one who opposed the annexation of 
the country to the British dominions, and who was regarded by the 
natives as their true friend. When I entered Oude there were 
known to be then standing two hundred and forty-six forts, with 
over eight thousand gunners to work the artillery on their walls, 
and connected with them were little armies, or bands of fighting 
men, to whom they were continually a place of shelter and defense. 
Annexation involved the razing of these forts, and the incorporation 
ot a large amount of those blood-thirsty freebooters, and of the 
King's troops, into the Sepoy Army — for Lord Dalhousie, the 
Governor-General, did not know what else to do with them — but 
what elements of fierceness and lawlessness were thus added to 
the prejudice and fanaticism of the high caste Brahminical army 
can be well imagined. Thousands of these mercenaries who 
could not be employed, and who, with arms in their hands, were 
sent adrift to seek their fortunes, became the ready instruments of 
the Talookdars' tyranny and power, when His Excellency an- 
nounced to them his intention of introducing the British system 
of land revenue into their country, for they well knew that these 
public improvements could be established only at the cost of their 
personal prerogatives and opportunities. The result is before the 
world. 

Yet it was in such a country and among such a people, after 
months of careful inquiry and inspection of unoccupied fields, that 



212 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

I concluded the Mission of the Methodist E^jiscopal Church 
should be established. We, with our gospel of peace and purity, 
had evidently found " those who needed us most ;" and I had 
faith to believe that this warlike race, with all their force of char- 
acter, could be redeemed, and would yet become good soldiers 
of Jesus Christ. Long after the hand which traces these lines 
shall have crumbled into the dust will the wide range of that beaur 
tiful valley, dotted with Christian churches, and cultivated by 
Christian hands, be bearing the rich fruition of these hopes. 

Satisfied of the suitability of Lucknow to become the head- 
quarters of our new Mission, I sought from a member of the Gov- 
ernment (not Sir Henry Lawrence, however) some statistics of the 
kingdom, to be incorporated in my Report to the Board at New 
York. I shall long remember his surprise when he found that we 
seriously contemplated planting the standard of the cross there. He 
asked me to look at the people, to consider their inveterate preju- 
dices, and the venerable character of their systems, and say if I 
thought any thing could ever be done there .'' So far was he from so 
believing that he considered it was madness for us to try, nor would 
our life be safe in attempting it. His mind was so made up on that 
question that he could lend no countenance to such an effort : 
in fact, he was no friend to Christian missions, and he intimated 
pretty plainly that he considered I would manifest more good sense 
were I retrace my steps to Calcutta, and take the first ship that left 
for America! I received no better encouragement when I after- 
ward called on Sir James Outram — a good man, and one of the 
bravest generals that ever commanded an army. He could lead 
the advance that so gallantly captured that city ; but to stand up 
for Jesus alone and unprotected, exposed to the rage of the Moham- 
medan and the Hindoo in their bazaars, seemed to the military hero 
something that ought not to be attempted in such a country as 
Oude. He shrugged his shoulders when I reminded him that, as 
to our safety, Christ our Master, whose commission we obeyed, 
would look to that ; while our success was in the hands of the Holy 
Spirit, and duty alone was ours. But he could not see it, and 



OUB MISSION FIELD. 213 

we parted never to meet again. The gallant man, sc justly desig- 
nated " The Bayard of India," sleeps to-day in Westminster Abbey, 
among the illustrious dead whom England delights to honor. 

Satisfied that we should end our wanderings, and regard Oude 
and Rohilcund as our mission-field, we sought for a house in Luck- 
now, but none could be found — all spare accommodation of the 
kind had been engaged by the officers connected with the increased 
civil and military establishments of the Government. So we were 
necessitated, as the next best thing, to go on to Bareilly, where a 
residence could be obtained, and wait for the future to open our 
way into Lucknow. We thus escaped the honor and risk of being 
numbered with those whom the relieving General, speaking for a 
sympathizing world, was pleased to designate " the more than illus- 
trious garrison of Lucknow," who for one hundred and forty-two 
days were shut up and besieged within the walls of the Residency 
and the adjacent buildings, and whose story we shall illustrate in 
its place. 

With many of the survivors, male and female, I was intimately 
acquainted for years afterward, while my home subsequently was 
within fifteen minutes' walk of the ruins of the Residency itself 

After full examination and inquiry, I had chosen this Kingdom 
of Oude and Province of Rohilcund (with the hill territory of 
Kumaon subsequently added) as our parish in India. In a full 
report to the Board in New York our reasons for the preference 
were fully given, and the fact was noted in the correspondence that 
the field chosen was one of those commended to my attention, 
before leaving America, by the Rev. Dr. Durbin, as one that might 
probably, on examination, be found pre-eminently suitable. His 
opinion and sagacity have been fully justified by the unqualified 
satisfaction of all concerned with the choice thus made. Our field, 
then, is the Valley of the Ganges, with the adjacent hill range 
bounded by the river Ganges on the west and south, and the great 
Himalaya Mountains on the north — a tract of India nearly as large 
as England without Scotland, being nearly four hundred and fifty 
miles long, and an average breadth of say one hundred and twenty 



214 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

miles, containing more than eighteen millions of people, who are 
thus left in our hands by the well-understood courtesy of the other 
Missionary Societies in Europe and America, who respect our occu- 
pation, and consider us pledged to bring the means of grace and 
salvation within the reach of these dying millions. (The reader's 
attention is asked to the Map which is at the begmning of the 
volume for the localities intimated within or near the scenes of the 
Ramayana and Mahabarata, and its central position, in the very 
" throne land of Rama," amid the most important of India's " holy 
shrines," and where our Christianity can tell so powerfully upon 
the entire country.) 

On my way to Bareilly I called to see the Missionaries of the 
Am.erican Presbyterian Church at Allahabad ; and, after explaining 
my plans and our proposed field, I stated to them how much I fell 
the need of some native young man who knew a little English — 
one whom I could fully trust, and by whose aid I might do some- 
thing while awaiting the arrival of the brethren to be sent to me 
from America. They had one such whom they thought, under the 
circumstances, they might spare for such a purpose, though he was 
very dear to them. His name was Joel. They kindly introduced 
me to him, and at once my heart went out toward him as just the 
person I needed. I introduce him here to my readers — my faithful 
helper, destined to become the first native minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in India. 

Joel had been taken when an orphan boy by the missionaries, 
and by them was educated and trained. He was at this time about 
twenty-two years of age, married to Emma, a lovely, gentle girl, 
four years younger than her husband. They had one little babe, 
and lived with Emma's widowed mother, a good Christian woman 
called " Peggy," who doted upon her daughter, all the more, I sup- 
pose, because she was so fair and delicate. I remember them dis- 
tinctly, because they were the first Christianized Hindoo household 
beneath whose roof I had yet sat down, and they seemed such a 
happy family. Joel had then gained so much of the English lan- 
guage that, by speaking slowly and using simple words, I could 



JOEL. 



215 




Joel. From a Photograph. 
make him understand me with tolerable clearness. He seemed 
just the kind of native assistant that I needed, if I could but obtain 
him. But I was going three hundred miles farther into an unex- 
plored region, in the heart of the country, and where all was new 
and untried. The proposition to take him away from the friends 
of his youth, and from Christian services, among utter strangers 



21 6 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and heathens, did seem rather trying, particularly in view of the 
general native timidity to go far from home — for that distance, and 
into another kingdom, seems to them almost equal to changing 
their nationality. 

The case was laid before God, and his direction sought. It was 
then intimated to Joel himself, and, to my encouragement, he said 
he would be willing, but that he did not know how Emma would 
feel about it, or — which seemed to him a greater difficulty — what 
Emma's mother would say to the proposal. I feared that the 
mother's objection would be insuperable. However, I sent Joel to 
consult Emma first, and the faithful, brave little wife at once con- 
sented to go where he would go. Then came the test on which all 
depended for success. I resolved to accompany Joel to Peggy's 
residence, to be present when the proposal was made through 
Brother Owen, who interpreted for me. 

When we entered her humble home and sat down, she greeted 
us with her sweet smile, and there was a pause. Joel looked at me 
and I at him, but for a few minutes I could not begin. The lonely 
widow would be so much more lonely when the dutiful and affeC' 
tionate daughter who sat there would be far away. This, with the 
possibility that she should see her no more, and that the sacrifice 
was almost too much to ask, seeming as it did, in some humble 
sense, to rank with the class of self-sacrifices which required him 
of old to take his son, his " only son Isaac," whom he loved, to give 
him up to duty and to God, made my task a painful one. The 
hesitation to speak was embarrassing, but it had to be done ; so, 
with an anxious heart and some serious doubts, I began and told 
her where I was going ; that I had no aid of any kind with which 
to begin God's work in the great Valley of the Ganges, and what 
a treasure and help some suitable young man would be to me, 
enabling me to speak to the people at once about Christ, and aid- 
ing me to gain the language, and assisting in every way. Then, 
her attention and interest being fixed, I ventured to make the pro- 
posal which was to lacerate her feelings and to try her faith ; and 1 
said to her, " Joel is my choice ; I have met no one who can help 



PEGGY'S SACRIFICE FOB HEB SAVIOUB. 217 

me as he can ; he is willing to go with me, and so is Emma, if you 
can only give your consent." 

Woman has made many and great sacrifices for Jesus, and 
largely by such sacrifices has the cause of truth and purity been 
advanced among men. Since holy Simeon said to the mother of 
the Lord's Christ, " Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own 
soul also," how many mothers, especially in resigning their chil- 
dren for the service of God at home or in distant lands, or those 
again in parting with theii little ones that they might go there, or 
stay there— how many such in these Christian sacrifices have felt 
this anguish pierce their maternal sympathies when, as true follow- 
ers of the Divine Father, " who spared not his own Son, but freely 
delivered him up for us all," they have surrendered their loved ones 
to the Lord's work, enduring their pungent sorrows, and trying to 
say, " My Saviour, I do this for thee !" 

Compared with such offerings, how poor and small, and easily 
parted with, were the sacrifices of Jewish saints ! They had only 
to surrender their corn, or wine, or oil, the best of their barn-yards 
or their flocks, or a money equivalent, for their first-born. None 
of these, save in such a case as Hannah's, went deeper than the 
purse. They were only property ; they left the heart unscathed ; 
they cost no tears, and inflicted no anguish. But it is different 
with Christian saints, who follow a self-denying Saviour, and who 
for his sake are willing to bear this peculiar cross. How amply 
compensated will such mothers feel when, in the presence of Him for 
whom they made these sacrifices, they shall see the sons or daugh- 
ters whom they resigned to the work of God, after having turned 
many to righteousness, " shine as the stars for ever and ever !" 

A spark of this Christ-like grace in the soul of a humble woman, 
once a heathen, can produce the same blessed spirit of self-sacrifice 
as that which animates the breasts of the most cultured ladies of 
Christendom ; while her prompt and noble reply puts to the blush 
the selfishness of some mothers in this land, who have dared to 
stand between their children and convictions of duty to God and a 
dying world- 



2l8 



THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 




Peggy. From a Photograph. 

When the painful question was presented to Peggy, after a 
momentary natural struggle, showing how conscious she was of 
the sacrifice, she answered me with tears — and I would write the 
poor widow's words in letters of gold if I could : " Sahib, (Sir, a 
title of respect,) the Saviour came down from heaven to give him- 
self for me, and why should not I give my daughter to his work ? " 



JOEL'S EXPEBIENCE. 2IQ 

It is a pleasure to introduce here the likeness of the devoted 
woman whose words I have quoted, and whose conduct so encour- 
aged my heart that day. 

Joel and Emma and their babe accompanied me to Rohilcund. 
As we were starting, the good missionaries by whom he had been 
educated, and who appreciated the gift they were conferring, play- 
fully intimated that Joel had been trained a Presbyterian, knew the 
Westminster Catechism, and was sound on the Five Points of Cal- 
vinism, and that they would naturally expect him to continue in 
the faith, even though he was going with a Methodist missionary ! 
In reply, I told them that I was more concerned for his religious 
welfare than for his special theological opinions — a clear conversion 
was of more moment to me than a creed ; but that his views I 
would not, under the circumstances, interfere with in any way. 
Nor did I ever do so. I felt assured these things would regulate 
themselves thereafter. 

On our arrival at Bareilly I commenced a little class-meeting, 
but soon found that Joel did not seem quite at home, and had. but 
little to say in the exercise. So I drew him into private conversation, 
explained what we meant by the witness of the Holy Spirit, and 
put into his hands the "Memoir of William Carvosso," telling him 
that it was composed in very easy English, and was regarded by us 
as one of the best books ever written to illustrate the faith that 
saves, advising him to read it through twice, and then tell me what 
he thought of it. He did so ; but before he finished the second 
reading told me there was something described there which he had 
not experienced. He had feared God from his youth, respected 
the Christian religion, attended the means of grace, was moral and 
upright, and would stand up for Christ and advocate his cause, but 
to say that he knew God as his reconciled Father was what he had 
never been able to profess. He now saw its necessity, and began 
to seek it with all earnestness. Before long he found it, and was 
enabled to testify that the " Spirit witnessed with his spirit that he 
was a child of God." Of course the class-meeting was now appre- 
ciated, and from that hour to the present, firm and faithful has been 



220 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

the character which he has borne among his brethren. Called by 
God to preach his Gospel, he has done so in its own spirit. I have 
often seen him antagonized by bitter-minded Brahmins and Moon- 
shees, using harsh and vexatious language toward him and his 
cause, but never ruffled or thrown off his guard. " The meekness 
and gentleness of Christ" has been his protection on these occa- 
sions, while, with his Bible in his hand — just as represented in the 
picture — he is ready for all comers ; and in the battles of the Lord 
with the enemies of the truth he has never turned his back oi 
sounded a retreat — " a good soldier of Jesus Christ " truly. 

As to his Calvinism, Joel had read Watson on " General Re- 
demption," and sustained his Conference examination upon the 
theme, and when Bishop Thomson laid his hand upon his head he 
ordained a true preacher of the Gospel, who believed as cordially 
as did the Bishop himself that the Lord Jesus, in the same sense 
and with the same intention, died for every human being. His 
fidelity and his progress must be an occasion of gratitude to those 
who gave him his early training, and toward whom he will ever 
entertain the gratitude that is justly due. 



m PERILS. 221 



CHAPTER V. 

"IN PERILS BY THE HEATHEN, IN PERILS IN THE WILDERNESS." 

f^\^ our arrival at Bareilly in January, 1857, we were most 
^^ kindly received by the Judge — Mr. Robertson — a member 
of the Free Church of Scotland. He took us into his home, and 
entertained us until we could obtain a house and furnish it. He 
was greatly delighted at our coming, for he believed in Missions, 
and in the power of the Gospel to reach the hearts of the heathen. 
For more than thirty years he had been in the civil service, knew 
the people well, and spoke their language with great fluency. His 
advice and opinions on our work were freely given and gratefully 
accepted, and it was evident that we might ever count him among 
the truest friends of our Mission. 

We entered our own home just ten weeks before the Rebellion 
occurred ; settled all things for our work, put up my valued library 
in its place, and began to study the language, little dreaming that 
so soon our comfortable arrangements would be consigned to the 
flames, and we be homeless and hunted for our lives on the adjoin- 
ing mountains ! 

Yet, we might have been awakened from our sense of security 
by many events around us. In particular, one day a native gentle- 
man called at our house and held a conversation, Joel interpreting, 
in which I was given, to understand that my coming among them 
was regarded by the people of Bareilly with considerable anxiety ; 
that for some time they had been led to believe the English Gov- 
ernment had hostile intentions toward their faith, and really 
intended, by force or fraud, to break their caste and destroy their 
religion ; and the supposition was, that I had been brought there 
by the Government to be ready, when their caste was broken, to 

baptize them, and so complete their Christianization ! 
15 



222 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

My earnest denial of any connection with the Government was 
received with a look of suspicion, for they confounded every white 
man (then few and far between in India) with the Government; 
and when I proceeded to assure him that I was not even an English- 
man, the Hindoo looked at me and exclaimed, " Why, Sahib, your 
face is white, you talk the English language, and are by religion a 
Christian ; what else can you be but an Englishman ?" I told him 
I was an American ; but, more confused still, he asked, "A what ?" 
" Why, an American." He had never heard the word before, nor 
perhaps one in ten thousand of his race, and he inquired what "an 
American" meant. He had no idea there was any other nation 
than England talking the same language and as white as they, and 
who were also Christians. This was generally true of his country- 
men then. But when, five years after, "the cotton famine" raised 
so wonderfully the value of their staple, and the Hindoo farmer 
began to receive two, and even three, rupees for the same quantity 
of cotton for which he obtained only one the year before, men 
opened their eyes and began to study geography, to find out that 
there was a nation, and a great one, beyond England, whose faces 
were white and who spoke the English language, and were Chris- 
tians too. So that our civil war in this country woke up the 
dormant intellect of ten thousand homes in the depths of India, 
and led men to inquire and study, and so far stimulated education, 
and showed its value, as no foreign event for hundreds of years pre- 
viously had done. 

But in 1857 the cotton famine had not occurred, and my Hindoo 
visitor was perplexed. Notwithstanding the general confidence 
they have in the truthfulness of the white faces, I have reason to 
think that this man left my dwelling under the conviction that I 
had tried to deceive him ; that I was what he supposed, and had 
denied it to screen myself and my purpose. It is probable that 
that interview and its impressions exposed my family and myself 
to their more special vengeance when the day came. 

With Joel's aid I commenced the work, hoping to have some- 
thing done by the time the first party of our brethren should reach 



THE GBEA8ED CABTBIDGE8. 223 

US from America. On the Sabbath we had two services — at eleven 
o'clock in the Hindustanee language, conducted by Joel, at which 
our family and a few natives attended ; after this service we had 
our .class-meeting, led by myself, six persons (Mrs. B., Joel and 
his wife, Ann, and Isaac, and Maria) being present, Joel translat- 
hig for me what had to be said in Hindustanee. In the afternoon 
I held a little English service, at which a few of the officers and 
civilians attended. On Tuesday evening, also, we had an Hindus- 
tanee service, and an English one on Thursday. Thus our work 
opened, but it was truly " the day of small things." 

The year in which I arrived in India saw the introduction of new 
arrangements for arming the Sepoy army. Instead of the old 
" Brown Bess," or regulation musket, with which they had hitherto 
fought the battles of the British, the rulers of India concluded to 
arm their Sepoys with the new Enfield rifle. For this weapon a 
peculiar cartridge had to be prepared, samples of which had been 
sent out from England to be manufactured at the arsenal of Dum 
Dum, eight miles from Calcutta. The rifles were distributed to the 
forces, and the wily Fakirs, ever on the look-out for something new 
to foment disaffection and distrust, at once declared that these, too, 
were a part of the insidious plan to injure their faith. The Sepoys 
received them with suspicion. Lock, stock, and barrel were taken 
asunder and carefully scrutinized, but nothing dangerous to their 
faith could be discovered. Yet the Fakirs had assured them there 
was danger, and that settled the matter. 

Then came the intense excitement about the "greased cartridges" 
for these guns, the purpose being, I suppose, to lubricate the bore 
of the rifle. It was given out that this grease was " a compound 
of hogs' lard and bullocks' fat." Only those who have lived among 
these people, and realized what a horror the Mohammedan has of 
the hog, and what a reverence the Hindoo has for the cow, can 
appreciate the storm of excitement and frenzy this simple an- 
nouncement caused through the whole Bengal army. The Fakirs 
exultantly pointed to the alleged fact as corroborating all they had 
asserted of the designs of the English against their relidons. 



224 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

It has never been definitely settled whether the charge as to the 
composition of the unguent was correct or not. The Government 
did what it could to allay the excitement and fears of the Sepoys, 
even to the withdrawal of the obnoxious cartridges, offering the 
men the right to make them up themselves with such grease as 
was not offensive to them. But it was all too late ; midnight meet- 
ings now began to be held and plans of resistance discussed, and 
immediate and open mutiny was proposed. 

General Hearsey at Barrackpore, by a well-timed and judicious 
address to the Sepoys of his command, in which he showed them 
the folly of supposing the Government inclined to attempt their 
forcible conversion, and the Governor General by proclamation to 
the whole army, tried to arrest the fearful tendency of affairs, and 
tranquilize the troops ; but the effect was temporary. The lull was 
only the prelude to the storm. The General's manly and straight- 
forward address to the men, with whom he had served nearly forty 
years, ought, if any thing could have done so then, to have satisfied 
and appeased them. He told them, among other things, that " the 
English are Christians of the Book, (that is, Protestants,) and 
Christians of the Book admit no proselytes, and baptize none, 
except those who fully understand and believe in the tenets therein 
inculcated." 

But rebellion was a foregone conclusion with these infatuated 
men; so they dissembled and professed to be "koosh" (pleased) 
with his address, yet they only awaited their hour. Twenty days 
after this, on that same parade ground, a Brahmin Sepoy named 
Mungul Pandy turned out armed, and in the presence of his regi- 
ment, not a man of whom interfered to save their officers or to arrest 
the Sepoy, shed the first blood of the Rebellion by firing on and 
wounding Adjutant Baugh and Sergeant-Major Hewson. The firing 
drew General Hearsey and his son to the spot. Mungul took aim 
at the General, who drew his sword, and with the words, " John, if 
I fall, rush upon him and put him to death," spurred his horse for- 
ward. The man was overpowered, and after attempting suicide was 
tried and executed, and died refusing to make anv statement to 



METHODS EMPLOYED. 225 

implicate his comrades, who were known to sympathize with 
him. 

We heard all this, and as the toils closed around us, began fully 
to realize how helpless we were, and how entirely in the power of 
those people and their instruments. In addition to the officials 
connected with the public offices already mentioned, there were 
any number of Moulvies and Moonshees, connected with the 
mosques and with tuition, available for their purposes. These men 
could control the consciences of the Moslem servants in our fam- 
ilies — the servants, of course, had eyes and ears — so that, while we 
lived in entire ignorance of what they said, 01 did, or purposed, our 
whole life lay open to our enemies, and our domestic conversations 
could be reported to them daily. The influence of the Nana Sahib, 
and other Hindoo authorities, could equally operate through their 
Pundits and Priests, and we were helpless between the two, as the 
full glare of observation and suspicion fell upon us, while those who 
watched every movement, and waited for our lives, could stand 
back in the shade and work in darkness. 

One of the methods employed was the fabrication and diffusion 
of false news and prophecies. All that they required was tem- 
porary effect to rouse the fanaticism of the fighting class to a 
white heat of fury, until they committed themselves. As the 
Sepoys were utterly ignorant, and their minds entirely under the 
influence of their Fakirs, whom they believed implicitly, nothing 
promulgated by them was too monstrous for belief. For instance, 
it was asserted that " the English had imported several cargoes of 
flour mixed with bones, which had been ground fine, and one mor- 
sel of which would destroy the caste of any man ;" that " this flour 
had been covertly introduced, and was then on sale in all the lead- 
ing bazaars, but so well disguised that even those who bought and 
sold it could not discover the difference ! " All this was believed. 
It was no use denying it, or asking them to trace it, or name the 
ship that brought it, or who had landed it ; it was enough that the 
Fakirs had said it ; it was certainly so. Thus Brahmin and Sepoy 
bought their food with suspicion, and eat it with fear. Another 



226 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

report was, that there was a plan for transporting to India the 
numerous widows of the EngHshmen slain in the Crimea. The 
principal zemindars (landholders) of the country were to be com- 
pelled to marry them, and their children, who would not of course 
be Hindoos, were to be declared the heirs of the estates ; and thus 
the territorial rights of the people of India, as well as their religion, 
were to be annihilated ! With much more of the same sort. 

Prophecies were invented, and arrangements made to fulfill them. 
The leading one was, that " the power which rose on the battle-field 
of Plassey should fall on the centennial anniversary of that great 
day." Another form of it, that better suited the Mohammedan 
mind, was, that " on the hundredth anniversary of Plassey the 
power that rose should fall, and the power that fell should rise." 
The meaning of all this is clear enough. 

Allegorical expressions in letters and remarks were much used, 
such as " Pearls (that is, white-faces) are quoted as low in the mar- 
ket ; Red Wheat (that is, colored-faces) is looking up." Then in 
February came that singular movement, the circulation of the 
" Chupatties," (small unleavened cakes,) the full significance of 
which has never been explained. Each recipient of two cakes was 
to make ten others, and transmit them in couples to the Chokey- 
dars (constables) of the nearest village, and they to others, so that 
in a few days the little cakes were distributed all over the country, 
causing amazing excitement. It was known that sugar had been 
used as a signal for the Vellore mutiny, (July, 1806.) And the 
idea of thus conveying a warning to be in readiness for a precon- 
certed rising, had precedent enough in the " Feast of the Moon 
Loaves," still held in commemoration of a similar device, in the 
conspiracy by which the Mogul dynasty was overthrown five hun- 
dred years ago in China, as the reader will find narrated in Gabel 
and Huq's " Travels in Tartary," chapter iii. No other explana- 
tion has ever been given of this singular transaction. 

Every supernatural means to which they looked for aid and 
direction were invoked and propitiated to lend their help in the 
coming struggle. Hunooman's assistance was confidently expected 



THE MOTIVES USED. 227 

to render them invincible when they should cross bayonets with the 
dreaded white-faces. So they sharpened their weapons, lawful and 
unlawful, and awaited the day. 

Meanwhile the more intelligent and elevated of the conspirators 
cautiously sounded the native princes of the semi-independent 
States, to enable them to understand what part they would proba- 
bly take in the great effort. Suitable motives were carefully 
held out to them, and also to the nobles and military classes, 
founded upon freedom from annexation, restoration of ancient 
dynasties, the bitter payment of old grievances, with patronage 
and rank when the Mogul should have " his own again," and be 
once more paramount in India. The Sepoys were promised pro- 
motion, higher pay, and better times generally ; the Priests were 
assured of a deliverance forever from the growing power of Chris- 
tianity, or even its presence, with a swift reversal of those enact- 
ments which had so seriously curtailed their dignity and perquisites, 
in usages and rites which humanity had swept away. The loose 
and vagabond classes (called " Budmashes ") were linked in with 
the enterprise by promises of license and plunder; and it was not a 
secret that they disputed together in advance as to the particular 
shares to which they should become entitled. Even the criminals 
in the jails were to become personally interested in the results. 
In Bareilly, where \\e lived, was the great central jail, containing 
nearly three thousand, the convicts of the province of Rohilcund, 
with its eight millions of people. These wretches, confined there 
for all crimes, from murder downward, understood that their time 
would come to be avenged upon the Government and the race that 
were punishing them. None can say now how we gained the 
information, only that "a bird of the air" would carry such a mat- 
ter ; but weeks in advance of our flight from Bareilly, the English 
ladies had heard that those wretched criminals, in their chains and 
cells, understood that they were to be let loose upon the day of the 
mutiny, receiving their liberty on condition of consummating the 
atrocities which the high caste of the Sepoys prohibited them from 
perpetrating. And, accordingly, let loose they were on that dreadful 



228 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

31st of May; but, thank Heaven! we had been led by a merciful 
Providence to anticipate the infernal intention, and removed to a 
place of safety nearly all of those whom they intended to victimize. 
Alas ! for the few women and children who, tardy in their flight, 
did fall into their fiendish hands on that ever memorable afternoon. 

Incendiary fires in the officers' quarters, which Sepoys refused to 
aid in extinguishing, now became matters of nightly occurrence in 
different stations. Partial mutinies took place at Fort William, 
Berhampore, and Lucknow, until, on the loth of May the three 
regiments stationed at Meerut (near our position at Bareilly) rose 
and set fire to the houses, shot some of their officers, and then 
ruthlessly murdered all the Europeans on whom they could lay 
their cruel hands, men, women, and children, over forty in number. 
All this was done in a station where there were European troops 
within one mile of this scene of blood, and yet the miserable old 
General who commanded was so stupefied that he would not 
permit his men either to attack or pursue them ! So the Sepoys 
hurried up their work undisturbed, and marched off to Delhi. 
They reached that city the next day. Here the other Sepoy troops, 
five thousand in number, joined them, and, taking their artillery, 
they proceeded to the palace of the Emperor, where they hauled 
down the old flag of England, ran up the green standard of the 
Moslem, and fired a royal salute in honor of the resumption 
of Mohammedan sovereignty in India. They then began one 
of the most ruthless and fiendish massacres of the Europeans 
which even Delhi (the city of cruelty) had ever witnessed. The 
Shazadahs were foremost in this devilish work, which was done 
chiefly in public, before thousands of raging foes, at the Kotwallee 
(Police Station) of the city. All the Europeans within the palace 
were slaughtered, with the concurrence, if not by the orders, of the 
Emperor, including the English Embassador, the Chaplain, Mr 
Jennings and his daughter, and Miss CHfiford — the latter said to be 
one of the most beautiful English ladies then in the East. 

Amid the record of these horrors, it makes one feel proud of his 
Anglo-Saxon blood to think of some of the daring deeds which 



WILLOUORBY'8 DEFENSE. 229 

were done against such fearful odds, and in the face of almost 
certain death. One of the most notable of these was Lieutenant 
Willoughby's defense of the Delhi magazine on that dreadful day. 
I know the* place, and enjoy the honor of a personal acquaintance 
with some of the brave men whom he commanded then. I have 
also had the privilege, in company with one of the survivors, to 
wander over the ruins into which he blew the whole structure when 
he found he could not save it for his country. 

There were no European troops in Delhi to oppose the entrance 
of the red-handed Sepoys that day ; none, except the nine men in 
charge of the magazine, and which it was of the first moment to 
Sepoy success that they should seize. In the Lieutenant's judg- 
ment it was of equal importance to his nation that they should 
never have it, and his resolution was promptly taken, that, if it cost 
his life and the lives of those under his orders, it never should be 
surrendered. The names of the eight heroes whom he commanded 
were Lieutenants Forrest and Raynor ; Conductors Buckley, Shaw, 
Scully, and Crow ; Sergeants Edwards and Stewart. He first put 
his guns and howitzers in position for the defense of the place, and 
then, so as to be prepared for the worst, laid his trains to connect 
all parts of the magazine. A handful of native assistants happened 
then to be with them in the magazine, whom they could not open 
the gates to turn out, for they soon discovered that they were play- 
ing them false ; so they had to watch them also. The firing and yells 
resounded all over the city, coming nearer and nearer to them. 
But there these men stood, with one hope in their hearts, that the 
European troops whom they knew to be at Meerut would follow 
up the mutineers, and that they might be able to hold out till they 
arrived, and so save the magazine and Delhi too. Vain hope-- 
they came not. Soon the Palace Guards were thundering at the 
gates, and, in the name of the Emperor, demanded the surrender of 
the magazine. No reply was given. The mutineers then brought 
scaling ladders from the Palace, and the Sepoys swarmed up upon 
the high walls all around them. 

One of the bastions commanded a view of the country toward 



230 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Meerut — a long reach of the road could be seen from it. There 
Willoughby took his position. Conductor Scully had volunteered 
to fire the train, should the last emergency come. There he stood, 
with his lighted port-fire in his hand, watching every movement of 
his chief. Seeing all was lost, and chafing with impatience, in 
presence of the raging foes around upon the walls, he would now 
and then cry out, "Shall I fire her, sir.?" But the Lieutenant, 
who still hoped for the sight of help from Meerut, would reply, 
" Not yet, Scully — not yet." The despairing but brave man would 
again look along the road and sigh, while Scully watched for the 
signal. 

Lieutenant Forrest, with the other six men, worked the guns. 
The gallant little band never once thought of betraying their trust 
by capitulation. The escalade from without was the signal for a 
similar movement from the traitorous natives within. In the confu- 
sion they managed to hide the priming pouches ; they then deserted 
the Europeans, climbing up the sloped sheds on the inside of the 
magazine, and descending by the ladders without. The insurgents 
had by this time swelled into multitudes upon the walls, pouring a 
deadly musketry discharge upon them at less than fifty yards, but 
the brave besieged kept up an incessant fire of grape, which told 
well. At length Conductor Buckley — who had been loading and 
firing with the same steadiness as if on parade — received a ball in 
his arm ; and Lieutenant Forrest was at the same time struck by 
two balls. Further defense was hopeless. No help from Meerut. 
Lieutenant Willoughby saw that the supreme moment had arrived. 
He lifted his hat, which was the signal, and Conductor Scully 
instantly fired the trains, and with an explosion that shook all 
Delhi, up went the magazine into the air, and its vast resources 
were annihilated. From five hundred to one thousand Sepoys on 
the walls were killed, and every thing around destroyed. Wil- 
loughby, Forrest, and Buckley, though wounded, actually escaped 
death, and managed to crawl from beneath the smoking ruins 
under cover of night, and retreated through the sally-port on the 
river-face, and Forrest and Buckley lived to tell the story of their 



PROVIDENTIAL COMPENSATION. 231 

great deed. Lieutenant Willoughby himself was killed in a village 
close to Delhi. No trace of Scully or the rest was ever found. 

This was a great service for the English cause, but could not 
turn the tide for them. Unfortunately, there was an arsenal and 
an immense park of artillery in another part of the city, both which 
fell into the hands of the mutineers ; while the sixty thousand Sepoys 
who soon found their way to Delhi brought with them from other 
cities abundant munitions for its defense. 

After the destruction of the magazine, the murder of the officers 
and missionaries and other Europeans, the violation of their wives 
and daughters, and the spoliation and burning of their homes, 
was proceeded with. Then followed the demoHtion of the courts 
of law, the church, the college, and the printing-office, and deeds 
were done that day which devils themselves might blush to own. 
It was an unutterable woe; yet it was not without its great 
compensation. 

There is a permissive providence of our God which sometimes 
allows a limited calamity to fall upon individuals and communities 
in order to preserve them from a sorrow that would be overv/helm- 
ing and unmitigated : in the sense of Caiaphas's words, " It is expe- 
dient that one man die for the people," etc. But in such cases, and 
indeed in general, it requires that we patiently wait until time gives 
the Almighty the requisite opportunity to be his own interpreter. 
We could not then understand God. In the midst of these agonies 
it seemed as if he had " forgotten to be gracious, and in anger had 
shut up his tender mercies." But what light the succeeding events, 
and the history of the last dozen years, have shed upon his over- 
ruling providence and his wise designs ! 

Two facts of this class belong just here: one general, and one 
particular to ourselves. But for the anticipation on the part of the 
Meerut mutineers of the contemplated universal rising, it seems to 
nie that not a Christian life could have been preserved in all India. 
Had they patiently waited till the 31st of May, and all had risen, as 
was intended, so that on the same day and hour, in every place, 
they had commenced their work of blood, not a lady nor a babe 



232 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

could have been saved. All must have been overwhelmed in one 
common ruin, and none left to tell the tale. 

But those demented Sepoys of Meerut struck twenty-one days 
too soon, thus throwing the whole country into such an excitement 
and effort to meet the hour, which was then manifestly inevi- 
table, that every expedient that men could adopt, to remove the 
ladies, children, and non-combatants to some, to any, place of safety, 
and the best possible measures for their defense and preserva- 
tion, were taken. So that to that three weeks of opportunity each 
lady owes her life, and the world was saved the agony of a tale of 
horror that would have been even a hundred fold greater than the 
terrible tragedy which horrified them in 1857-8. 

The other fact was personal to ourselves, yet having a kindred 
significance in its results. Our commanding General in Bareilly 
was a gentleman of the name of Sibbald. Like many other old 
officers, he had an infatuated confidence in his Sepoy troops. If 
he had been at home when the news of the Meerut massacre 
reached us, the probability is that not a soul of us would have 
escaped. But, just before the event took place, he was led to pro- 
ceed upon a tour of military inspection of the province under his 
authority, and was most providentially away in the mountain dis- 
trict when the news arrived. 

He left in command our brave friend. Colonel Troup — a man 
who knew the Sepoys well, and who did not trust them. Acting 
on his own judgment and discretion, though he knew the old Gen- 
eral would probably disapprove his action, he took that course, in 
the hour and opportunity afforded him by his temporary command, 
which proved the salvation of all those under his care who obeyed 
his orders. 

In our flight to Nynee Tal, myself and family brought up the 
rear. I met General Sibbald half-way down, at Bahari Dak Bunga- 
low, and he was wild with excitement, declaring that Colonel 
Troup's head was turned to do such a thing as to send away the 
ladies and children out of Bareilly, and he swore that if he had 
been at home not one of them should have left. He knew, he 



OUR WARNING TO FLEE. 233 

said, that his Sepoys were staunch and true, and could be depended 
upon to defend them ! I looked after the old man as he hurried 
away from me, with the sad presentmient that he was mistaken. 
He " blew up" Troup, and was so firm in his reliance on the Sepoys 
that, had it not been for the influence of his officers, he would, 
in order to show his confidence in his troops, have yielded to 
their request to order back the ladies to Bareilly. On such a 
thread as this our fate hung. Yet this very man, to whom his 
Sepoys swore such fidelity and made such promises, was the first 
person whom they shot on that Sabbath morning, May 31st. In 
his dying hour, if he thought of them, he must have felt that the 
safety of his own wife and daughters was due to the precaution of 
the officer he had blamed ! But we are anticipating what follows. 
Forty-eight hours after the Meerut massacre (and three days 
before the account of that of Delhi reached us) a mounted horse- 
man entered Bareilly, with a letter from the English Governor of 
the North-west, Mr. Colvin, to the commanding officer, narrating 
the terrible deeds done at Meerut, and suggesting that every pre- 
caution should be taken to provide for the safety of the ladies and 
children. Colonel Troup, being in command, received the letter 
and acted as we have stated. The telegraphs had been cut all over 
the country, and the mails on the Delhi side stopped ; so that had 
it not been for the precaution of Mr. Colvin in sending a message 
direct, we should have been in ignorance of what had been done, 
and of our own fearful danger. Many such facts might be given to 
show the merciful Providence which watched over us to save us. 
But these may suffice here. 

I now turn to our personal narrative, and, in presenting it, have 
carefully looked over the letters addressed to the Corresponding 
Secretary of our Missionary Society, in various dates from May 26 
to July 10, 1857, when I gave the facts as they occurred ; and in 
the light of the explanations which subsequent years have devel- 
oped, I find only a few words that I need at all to qualify ; so that 
the facts and impressions are given in the form in which they came 
from an anxious heart, which, in the midst of danger and in the 



234 TEE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

face of death, tried to trust in God for all events, and yet looked for 
a happy issue out of these afflictions, and for the life and extension 
of the mission which we had begun. 

On Thursday, May 14, the commanding officer kindly sent his 
Adjutant over to our house with a serious message. Not known ig 
what he specially wanted, we engaged for nearly an hour in relig- 
ious conversation. But I thought from his manner that he looked 
anxious. With gentlemanly delicacy he was unwilling to mention 
his message before Mrs. Butler, lest it might injuriously affect her, 
as she was in circumstances where any shock was undesirable. He, 
accordingly, asked to see me alone, and then communicated the 
intelligence of the mutiny at Meerut, stating that word had arrived 
from the Governor that the insurrection was spreading to Delhi and 
other places, and that fears were entertained as to the intention of 
the Sepoys at Bareilly. Under those circumstances, the command- 
ing officer felt it his duty to request that all ladies and children 
should be sent off quietly, but at once, to the hills, and also that he 
considered it prudent, from the reports in circulation concerning us 
and our objects, that I also should accompany Mrs. B. and the chil- 
dren, as he considered me in rather special danger in the event of 
a mutiny. I promised the Adjutant that I would prayerfully con- 
sider the message, and let my conclusion be known to the com- 
manding officer that evening. As soon as the Adjutant had gone, 
I communicated the message to Mrs. Butler. She received it with 
calmness, and we retired to our room to pray together for divine 
direction. After I had concluded my prayer, she beg.m, and I 
may be excused in saying that such a prayer I think I never heard ; 
a martyr might worthily have uttered it, it was so full of trust in 
God and calm submission to his will. But when she came to 
plead for the preservation of " these innocent little ones," she 
broke down completely. We both felt we could die, if such were 
the will of God ; but it seemed too hard for poor human nature to 
leave these little ones in such dreadful hands, or perhaps to see 
them butchered before our eyes ! We knew that all this had been 
done on Sunday last in Meerut, and we had no reason to expect 



CONCLUDED NOT TO GO. 235 

more mercy from those in whose power we were, should they rise 
and mutiny. But we tried hard to place them and ourselves, and 
the mission of our beloved Church, in the hands of God ; and he 
did calm our minds, and enable us to confide in him. On rising 
from our knees I asked her what she thought we ought to do ? 
Her reply was that she could not see our way clear to leave our 
post ; she thought our going would concede too much to Satan and 
to these wretched men ; that it would rather increase the panic , that 
it might be difficult to collect again our little congregation if we 
suspended our services, and, in fact, that we ought to remain and 
trust in God. I immediately concurred, and wrote word to the 
commanding officer. He was not pleased at all with our decision. 
The evening wore on, and we held our usual weekly English serv- 
ice. I tried to preach from Deut, xxxiii, 25, "As thy days, so 
shall thy strength be," and administered the holy Sacrament. The 
commanding officer was present. I felt much for him. His re- 
sponsibility was great, for on his discretion and judgment our 
entire safety, under God, depended. We passed a restless night, 
startled at every sound, feeling that we slept over a volcano that 
might burst forth at any moment, and scatter death and destruc- 
tion on every side. 

Before going to bed we arranged our clothes for a hasty flight, 
should an alarm be given. But we beheld the morning light in 
safety, and the mail brought me the Christian Advocate of 
March 19, and one of the first things I saw was the little para- 
graph which was headed with the words "Pray for your lonely 
William Butler!" How much I needed to be prayed for! Before 
that simple sentence my heart gave way, and I could not resist the 
tears that came. The past and the present were such contrasts ! 
But God graciously soothed my feelings, till I wondered why I had 
ever doubted for a moment, or failed to see that God, who had 
brought us hitherto, would not now forsake us, or allow our mission 
to be broken up. I felt assured that thousands in this happy land 
did pray for their "lonely William Butler." Three times between 
that and Saturday evening did my kind friend send to warn me to 



236 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

leave, as did also other friends among the military, By that time 
nearly all the ladies and children had left. The place looked very 
desolate, and I began to question whether I was right in resisting 
advice any longer. My Moonshee told me candidly he thought I 
"ought to go." Being a Mohammedan, and having a pecuniary 
loss in the suspension of my lessons in the language, his warning 
had much weight with me. I had then to settle the question, 
raised by the commanding officer, whether our resistance to going, 
under those circumstances, was not more a tempting of, rather than 
a trusting in. Providence .'' I hated to leave my post, even for a 
limited time. Yet to remain looked, as he argued, should an insur- 
rection occur, and I become a victim, like throwing away mv life 
without being able to do any good by it ; and the Missionary Board 
would probably have blamed me for not taking advice, and acting 
on the prudence which " foreseeth the evil," and takes refuge " till 
the indignation is overpast." Still, had I been alone, or could I 
have induced Mrs. B. to take the children and go without me, (a 
proposition she met by declaring she would never consent to it, 
but would cling to her husband and cheerfully share his fate, what- 
ever it might be,) I would have remained. But when to all the 
preceding reasons, the reflection was added that Mrs. B.'s situation 
required that, if moved at all, it must be then, as a little later 
flight would be impossible, and she and the children and myself 
must remain and take whatever doom the mutineers chose to 
give us, I consulted Joel, and asked his advice as to what had 
better be done. He thought it safest that we should go, say for 
three or four weeks, to Nynee Tal, and, if all remained quiet, we 
could then return. Meanwhile he promised to sustain our humble 
service, and keep every thing in order. How little he or I then 
imagined that he himself, or any native Christian, would be in 
peril, or that before we again stood together on that spot, events 
would transpire around him that would fill the civilized world with 
horror ! 

I, therefore, arranged to suspend my English service, (indeed 
most of those who attended were already gone,) hoping soon to 



OXm FLIGHT. 237 

return and resume it. Saturday night we lay down to rest, not to 
sleep. The mounted patrols that went round every fifteen minutes 
would call out to the watchman attached to each house in such 
boisterous tones that sleep was impossible ; and it almost became 
distracting, from the manner in which it made the poor children 
startle and cry until daylight broke. It was a solemn Sabbath, 
We had but ten persons at the native service, and less at the 
English one ; people seemed afraid to come out. A rumor got 
afloat that Sunday was to be our last day ; that the Sepoys 
intended to murder the Europeans on that Sabbath. 

Our class-meeting was a solemn, but profitable, time. We used 
it as if it were our last. Had it been, I think each of that little 
band (seven in number) would have been found of God in peace. 
We lay down again to seek rest, but it was short and disturbed 
repose. Monday morning came ; I tried to find palankeens for our 
journey, but all were away ; so I obtained some bamboos and rope, 
and tor k three charpoys, (an article like what our Lord referred to 
when he bid the man "take up his bed sxid walk,") turned the feet 
uppermost, put on the bamboos, and threw a quilt on each, and we 
were equipped. I left three native Christians in the house with 
Joel, besides two watchmen for night. That evening, at six o'clock, 
the news arrived that the Sepoys had risen in Delhi, murdered the 
Europeans, and proclaimed the Emperor. The details were fright- 
ful. Just then Judge Robertson appeared upon the scene, and 
inquired if I too was yielding to the panic .? I told him all. He 
was incredulous. I asked him why he thought so confidently that 
there would be no rising .? He told me he was so advised by Khan 
Bahadur, the native judge, who assured him there was no cause for 
alarm, and guaranteed him personal protection under the hospital- 
ity of his own roof. Judge R. expostulated with me for leaving, 
and had not my arrangements been made for going, the influence 
of his words might have prevailed to lead me to put it ofl", and we 
should have shared his sad fate. We were ready when our bearers 
came at nine o'clock, and I went into my study once more. I 

looked at my books, etc.. and the thought flashed across my mind 
16 



238 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

that perhaps, after all my pains in collecting them, I should never 
see them again ! I took up my Hindustanee Grammar, two volumes 
of manuscript Theological Lectures, a couple of works on India. 
my Passport, my Commission, and Letter of Instructions, with my 
Bible, Hymn Book, and a copy of the Discipline, and sorrowfully 
turned away, leaving the remainder to their fate. The children, poor 
little fellows, were lifted out of their beds and placed in the dooley. 
Quietly, and under cover of the night, we started, leavmg the 
keys of our house and all things in Joel's charge. Shaking hands 
with him and the others, we moved off by the light of the Mussal- 
chee's torch, crossed the Bazaar, but no one molested us ; they 
simply asked the men, " Whom have you ? " The reply was, " The 
Padre Sahib," (the missionary,) and we passed through the crowd 
unmolested. We moved on in the silent darkness, having seventy- 
four miles to go. About midnight I happened to be awake, and 
saw we were passing a gig with two ladies in it, and a native lead- 
ing the horse. It seemed hazardous to stop, but I became so 
uneasy that I did, and walked back. The ladies knew my voice. 
There I found them, on that wretched road, twenty miles from 
Bareilly, in the middle of the night ; the ladies, scantily dressed, 
and crowded, with an Ayah, (a native nurse,) into a small gig, 
one of them holding up (for there was no room for it to lie down) 
a poor Httle sick child. In that posture they had been for nearly 
eight hours. They were just sitting down to dinner when the 
news of the massacre of Delhi arrived, and such was the panic 
produced that the gig was instantly brought to the door, and they 
put into it and sent off. They must go alone, for their husbands 
were military officers and must remain. I have witnessed desolate 
scenes, but never saw any thing so desolate looking as those two 
ladies and that child on that road that night. I took the lady with 
the child out of the gig and put them into my dooley, and it did 
my heart good to see them lying down. I then sent them on and 
took charge of the other lady and the gig. We overtook them, and 
about five ladies more, next morning, at the travelers' bungalow at 
Behari. There they remained, as directed, until dooleys overtook 



AN ANSWER TO PBAYEB. 239 

them next evening. Here I met General Sibbald, as already stated, 
hurrying down in a fury ; too late, thank God ! to carry out his 
purpose to prevent the departure. We rested till the heat of the 
day subsided, and then I started with my family again. We 
reached the first Chowkee safely, changed bearers, and then entered 
the IWai — a belt of deep jungle, about twenty miles wide, around 
the Himalayas, reeking with malaria, and the haunt of tigers and 
elephants. The rank vegetation stood in places like high walls on 
either side. At midnight we reached that part of it where the 
bearers are changed. The other palankeens had their full comple- 
ment of men ; but, of the twenty-nine bearers for whom I paid, 1 
could only find nine men and one torch-bearer ; and this, too, in 
such a place ! Darkness and tigers were around us ; the other 
palankeens were starting one after another, each with its torch to 
frighten away the beasts, the bearers taking advantage of the 
rush to extort heavy " bucksheesh." All but two had gone off, and 
there we were with three dooleys and only men enough for ofie, and 
no village where we could obtain them nearer than twelve miles. 
What to do I knew not. I shall never forget that hour. At length 
I saw there was but one thing to be done ; I took the two children 
and put them into the dooley with Mrs. Butler ; a bullock-hackrey, 
laden with furniture, was about a quarter of a mile ahead, with its 
light fading in the distance ; desperation made me energetic ; at 
the risk of being pounced upon, I ran after the hackrey, and by 
main force drove round the four bullocks and led them back, sorely 
against the will of the five men in charge of it. But I insisted that 
they must take Ann (our servant) and me, with what little baggage 
we had with us. I put her and the luggage up, the driver grum- 
bling all the while about his heavy load and the delay. I then 
turned around to see Mrs. Butler off, but her bearers did not stir. 
I feared they were about to spoil all. They were exhausted by 
extra work, and might have even fairly refused to carry two chil- 
dren with a lady ; and to have taken either of them on the hackrey 
was impossible. I dreaded the bearers would not go. Delay seemed 
ruinous to the only plan by which I could get them on at all. If 



240 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

the men refused the burden and left, they would take with them; 
for their own protection, the only torch there was, which belonged 
to them, and we should have been left in darkness, exposed to the 
tigers and the deadly malaria. Mrs. C. and Miss Y.'s bearers had 
laid them down, and were clamoring for larger " bucksheesh." 
My ten men looked on. The hackrey-driver turned his bullocks 
around, and, out of all patience, was actually putting his team in 
motion. But, in spite of urging, there stood my men. It was an 
awful moment. For a few minutes my agony was unutterable ; 1 
thought I had done all I could, and now every thing was on the 
brink of failure. I saw how "vain" was "the help of man," and 
I turned aside into the dark jungle, took off my hat, and lifted my 
heart to God. If ever I prayed, I prayed then. I besought God 
in mercy to influence the hearts of these men, and decide for me in 
that solemn hour. I reminded him of the mercies that had hith- 
erto followed us, and implored his interference in this emergency. 
My prayer did not last two minutes, but how much I prayed in 
that time ! I put on my hat, returned to the light, and looked. I 
spoke not ; I saw my men at once bend to the dooley ; it rose, and 
off they went instantly, and they never stopped a moment, except 
kindly to push little Eddie in, when in his sleep he rolled so that 
his feet hung out. 

Having: seen them off, I turned around, and there were our two 
dooleys. I could do nothing with them, so left them for the tigers 
to amuse themselves with, if they chose, as soon as the light was 
withdrawn. I ran after the hackrey and climbed up on the top of 
the load, and gave way to my own reflections. I had known what 
it was to be " in perils by the heathen," and now I had had an idea 
of what it was to be " in perils in the wilderness." But the feeUng 
of divine mercy and care rose above all. The road was straight, 
and what a joy it was to see the dooley-light grow dim in the dis- 
tance, as the bearers hurried forward with their precious burden. 

We moved on slowly after them, owing to the rugged road, the 
swaying furniture, and the wretched vehicle ; but we were too 
grateful for having escaped passing the night in the miasma and 



NTNEE TAL. 241 

danger of the jungle to complain, though every movement swung 
us about till our bones ached. 

We were ten hours going those fifteen miles. At last day broke, 
and our torch-bearer was dismissed. "Hungry and thirsty, our 
souls fainted in us" indeed. But at last we reached Katgodan, and 
found the mother and babes all safe. They had slept soundly the 
whole distance, and at daybreak were laid safely down af the door 
of the travelers' bungalow. It was twenty-two hours of traveling 
and exposure since we had tasted food, and when it was served up 
it was indeed welcome. 

Mrs. C. and Miss Y. did not arrive for some hours after my wife, 
having lost the difference of time on the road in contentions with 
their bearers, and extra bribing to induce them to go on. On my 
arrival, one of the first remarks I met was from Miss Y. : " Why, 
•what could have happened to Mrs. Butler's bearers, that they 
started so cheerfully and arrived here so soon, without giving her 
the least trouble!" Ah ! she knew not, but I knew, there is a God 
who heareth and answereth prayer ! O for a heart to trust him as 
I ought ! The divine interposition in the case will appear all the 
more manifest when I add that even the " bucksheesh " for which 
the bearers were at first contending, (and which I was only too 
willing to pay them,) they started off without staying to ask for or 
receive; nor did they even require it from Mrs. B., when they 
safely laid her down at the end of their run. I shall never forget 
the experience and the mercy of that night in the Terai ! 

We stopped all night at the bungalow, which was crowded, and 
the heat was beyond any thing I ever felt before. Major T. had 
kindly sent down jampans (a kind of arm-chair with a pole on 
each side, carried by four men) to bring us up the mountain. We 
began the ascent at three o'clock next morning, having eleven 
miles to go to reach Nynee Tal. As soon as day broke the view 
was sublime — something of the Swiss scenery in its appearance, 
but more majestic. The road (a narrow path) wound round and up 
one mountain after another, by the brink of precipices and land- 
slips. As we rose the cold increased, till we came to a region 



242 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

where trees and shrubs of European growth were flourishing, bil- 
berries and raspberries made their appearance, and the cuckoo was 
heard. The last two miles was up the face of a mountain as 
nearly perpendicular as was possible and yet permit a very zigzag 
path to be cut on it. At length, after seven hours' toiling, we 
gained the summit, 7,000 feet above the plains below What a 
prospect ! In the bosom of those cool mountains lay the sani- 
tarium of Nynee Tal, with its beautiful lake, while behind it rose 
up the "snowy range," 21,000 feet higher still. 

Those who may visit the place for health or pleasure in the days 
to come can have little idea with what feelings the panting fugi- 
tives of 1857 caught this first glimpse of it on that morning. 

Nynee Tal occupies a high upland valley or gorge in the Gaghur 
range, south and east of the point where that range attains its 
highest elevation at Cheenur Peak, 8,732 feet above the sea. This 
peak sends off a spur to the south and south-east, called Deoputta 
and Ayar Pata, and the hollow between the spur and the main 
range of the Gaghur — here called Shere ke Danda and Luria — is 
occupied by the flat portion of the station, by the bazaar, and by 
the lake which gives its name to the place, and which forms the 
principal feeder of the Bulleah River. 

The valley is half land and half water, the lower end being occu- 
pied by the lake, and it is only open to the south-east, where the 
outlet for the water is situated. The length of the whole hollow is 
a mile and a half, and its average breadth is under half a mile. 
The length of the lake is a few yards less than one mile. The 
water is at all times beautifully clear and transparent, and in calm 
weather reflects the surrounding scenery like a mirror. 

The place is approached by two narrow paths from the foot of 
the hills on the Moradabad and Bareilly sides. The ascent is in 
places very steep and on the verge of fearful precipices. It had 
been used for a few years past as a sanitarium by the English resi- 
dents, and was chosen now for us because the military men be- 
lieved that it could be easily defended. 

All looked so peaceful and felt so delightfuliy cool ! After some 



ITS VALUE AS A SANITARIUM. 245 

searching, I was fortunate enough to find a Httle furnished house 
of four rooms still unengaged, which I gladly hired for ^225 for " the 
season." A bachelor Captain was in it as a day tenant, but he 
most kindly turned out and let us in at once, and within five hours 
of our arrival we laid our weary little ones to rest in our new and 
strange home, not knowing for how long a time we should be 
able to occupy it. Yet we were even then deeply impressed with 
the value of such a place for a sanitarium for our mission in the 
better days of the future, when the brethren and sisters, whose 
health would require the change, would feel thankful to have with- 
in their reach such a refuge from the heat. But under what dif- 
ferent feelings and circumstances is it now visited by them fiom 
those with which their fugitive superintendent first entered it ! 

Immediately on reaching Nynee Tal I wrote a few words to Dr. 
Durbin, and as they express the feelings of the hour, and an un- 
shaken faith in God in the future of our mission, they may be 
quoted here : " I had hoped by this mail (which closes here to-day) 
to have sent you a full account of our situation ; but this is imprac- 
ticable until the next mail. We have only just arrived here, and 
are all in confusion. I can therefore, only write a few lines. The 
commanding officer required all non-combatants to leave Bareilly 
and take refuge here until the Government has put down this 
insurrection We delayed till the last moment, but had to leave. 
Our experiences on the way up were, in many respects, trying 
enough, but God preserved us in safety, so we 

" ' — praise him for all that is past, 
And trust him foi all that 's to come.' 

" What awaits us we know not ; but should any thing happen to 
us, tell our beloved Church that we had prepared ourselves 
through grace for all results, and that our last thoughts were 
given to our mission in the confident hope that the Methodist 
Episcopal Church would do her part faithfully in redeeming India. 
Beyond this we had no anxiety except for our poor children. Doc- 
tor, you will think of them if I fall ! We need now, O how much ! 
the prayers of God's people." 



246 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

This note worked its way through all the dangers to which the 
mails, then rapidly breaking up, were exposed, and managed to 
reach the seaside, and so on to its destination ; a better fate than 
many of its successors had. 

For more than ten days all moved on as usual ; the mails came 
and went ; Joel wrote and kept me informed how matters pro- 
gressed till, seeing no further sign of danger, some of our party 
became impatient, asking ourselves why did we leave at all, and 
even proposing to return to Bareilly. It was, however, only the 
lull before the storm. 

On the 25th we heard of the mutiny at AUyghur. Sabbath, the 
31st of May, I preached twice (the first Methodist sermons ever 
uttered on the Himalaya mountains) from Acts xx, 21, and Rom. 
viii, 16. I tried to preach as "a dying man to dying men." At 
the same hour in Bareilly Joel was conducting the service. He 
preached — for he had already begun to take a text — the very morn- 
ing of the mutiny from the words, " Fear not, little flock, for it is 
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," when, in 
the midst of his closing prayer, the guns opened fire, and the 
slaughter of the Europeans commenced. But we knew it not. 
Our Sabbath passed peacefully over, while many of the ladies of 
our party were widows, and the mangled bodies of their husbands 
were then lying exposed to every form of insult m the streets of 
Bareilly. 

Monday came, and no mail from Bareilly. We feared some- 
thing must be wrong, and our fears were all verified by the arrival 
of the first of the fugitives in the evening, bearing the terrible 
news that at eleven o'clock on Sunday morning the Sepoys had 
risen and commenced shooting their officers. An understanding 
had existed among the officers that, in case of a rising, the rendez- 
vous should be the cavalry lines ; so, as soon as the firing began, 
each officer that could do so jumped on his horse and galloped to 
where the cavalry were drawn up, Brigadier-General Sibbald being 
killed on the way there. As Lieutenant Tucker, of the Sixty-eighth 
Native Infantry, was flying on horseback, he saw the Sepoys firing 



THE ESCAPE. 247 

into the houses ol the English sergeants ; and callhig out to one ot 
them, "Jennings, jump up behind me," he was shot dead by the 
Sepoys, and fell from his horse. Jennings mounted it. They 
shot the horse under him. He jumped off, ran for his life, and 
escaped. Captain Patterson, with other officers, was fired on in 
the orderly room. They escaped by the opposite door, ran to their 
stables, got their horses, and fled. Colonel Troup heard the firing, 
and was leaving his house when his own orderlies tried to stop him. 
He got out by another door, and escaped on foot, but was followed 
by his sjce (groom) with his horse. Dr. Bowhill, of the Eight- 
eenth, was in his bath when he heard the firing. He jumped out, 
drew on his clothes, got out his watch and one hundred rupees, 
ran to the stable to order his horse, returned, and found that his 
rascally bearer had made off with money and watch too. I have 
only heard of one who had time to save a single thing except the 
clothes they had on them. Captain Gibbs had to ride across the 
parade ground through a volley of musketry, and the artillery men 
fired on him with grape. He escaped unhurt. All was so sud- 
den, so unexpected, there was no time for preparation — nothing but 
to mount and fly. Two minutes after Colonel Troup left his house 
he saw it in flames ; and before ten minutes every bungalow in the 
cantonments seemed on fire. The road to Nynee Tal was direct 
through the city. A band of officers and gentlemen, about forty 
in number, evaded the city, took a by-road for a couple of miles, 
and escaped. Those who tried the city I believe all perished. Of 
Lieutenant Gowan (our good friend of the Eighteenth Native 
Infantry) we could hear nothing ; but he was saved by nis own 
Sepoys, who liked him. Under cover of night, when it came, they 
took him out of a house where they had concealed him, and 
escorted him, with their Sergeant-Major Belsham and his wife and 
five children, and conducted them two miles beyond Bareilly to the 
south, giving the sad party what money they could spare, and 
theii good wishes for their escape. They were joined during the 
night by four officers that had escaped the massacre, and they 
resolved to keep together for mutual protection ; but the slow 



248 TBJS LAND OF THE VEDA. 

pace at which the poor woman and her infants could move soon 
irritated the officers, and they resolved to leave them behind. 
Lieutenant Gowan would not listen to the proposal. His human- 
ity saved his life. The four officers pushed on and were murdered, 
while the little party with the Lieutenant were all saved by the 
wonderful generosity of a Hindoo farmer, who found them con- 
cealed in his field, and who hid them for seven months within his 
own house at the risk of his life. This was at Khaira Bajera, 
a place now on our Minutes, and where good Lieutenant (now 
Colonel) Gowan has built and endowed Christian schools as a 
memorial of his gratitude to the Thakoor who sheltered him, and 
to God who inclined him to do so. They are under the charge 
of our mission. 

When the firing first began, at eleven o'clock, some of the officers 
when they reached the lines of the native cavalry suggested a 
charge on the artillery and infantry, hoping the cavalry would 
prove true, as they all professed great loyalty. It was attempted, 
but the rascals, after going a few paces, hoisted the "green flag" 
and deliberately rode over to the infantry, leaving the officers in a 
body, with about twenty-five of the cavalry, who stood faithful. 
The artillery then opened upon them with grape, and they had to 
fly. Poor fellows ! they rode the seventy-four miles without re- 
freshment or a change of horses ; and when ihey came up the hUl 
to us next morning they were all sun-burned and ready to drop 
from sheer exhaustion. Some of them had nothing on but shirt 
and trousers ; few of them were completely dressed, as the hour of 
mutiny was the general hour for bath and breakfast, and they had 
to spring to their horses without losing a moment to look for any. 
Fully one half of our little English congregation were murdered. 
Two of the sergeants who used to attend escaped, and got half 
way to Nynee Tal, but were attacked by the people of Bahary. 
One of them, who had become very serious, was there murdered ; 
he fell with his hands clasped and calling upon the Lord. The 
other was left for dead, but managed to crawl to the foot of our 
hill, and recovered from his wounds. Mr. Raikes, the chief 



TEE NUMBER KILLED. 249 

magistrate, Mr. Orr, and Mr. Wyatt, were all murdered, and Dr. 
Hansbrovv, the Governor of the jail, was killed by the convicts, the 
native jailer helping them. Mr. Laurance, a widower with four 
chiliiren, was made to sit in a chair while his children were exe- 
cuted before his eyes, and then he was killed. Mrs. Aspinall, who 
lived next to us, with her son and his wife and child were mur- 
dered in their garden. It is said the murderers flung the baby, 
five weeks old, into the air, and cut at it with their swords as it 
fell. Some of the accounts are too dreadful to repeat. ,We cannot 
but hope that many of them were exaggerated. In all they killed 
forty-seven Christian people, men, women, and children, in Bareilly 
that day. 

As soon as the officers fled, the Sepoys fired their houses, after 
which they broke open the treasury and took the money ; and then, 
as if possessed with the demon of madness, they went to the Jail, 
broke open the gates, and let loose the criminals. These wretches 
completed what the Sepoys had begun. The homes of the civil- 
ians were sacked and burned. All the gentlemen that had not 
fled, or were overtaken, were either killed or taken prisoners. The 
Sepoys then proclaimed the Emperor of Delhi ; elected as Nawab 
Khan Bahadur Khan, who had held the office of Deputy Judge under 
our friend Judge Robertson, and who so deceived him, as already 
noticed. It is understood that the prisoners were all brought before 
the new Nawab next morning, (Judge Robertson, Dr. Hay, and 
Mr. Raikes being of the number,) and this wretch deliberately con- 
demned them to death by the law of the Koran : " They were infi- 
dels, and they must die ! " He ordered them to be publicly hanged 
in front of the jail. 

The rebels went to my house, and expressed great regret at not 
finding me. They are said to have declared they specially wanted me. 
They then destroyed our little place of worship, and burned my 
house with its contents. All was lost, save life and the grace 
of God ; but the sympathy and prayers of our beloved Church 
were still our own, so the loss was not so great after all. 

It would be affectation if I were to profess that I was unmoved 



250 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

at my loss. So far from it, I felt overwhelmed by it. Every thing 
was so complete and well arranged for my work. But all was 
destroyed, and some things gone that could never be restored. 
All my manuscripts ; my library, (about one thousand volumes, the 
collection of my life, and which, perhaps, I loved too well,) so com- 
plete in its Methodistic and theological and missionary depart- 
ments ; my globe, maps, microscope ; our clothes, furniture, melo- 
deon, buggy, stock of provisions — every thing, gone ; and here we 
were, like shipwrecked mariners, grateful to have escaped with life. 
But we tried to say, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken 
away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." I had the consola- 
tion to know that my goods had been sacrificed for Christ's sake. 
When we looked around us and saw the anguish that wrung the 
hearts of the bereaved of our number, we felt that our loss was 
light, and could be easily borne. So we were " cast down, but not 
destroyed." 

When the Sepoys had thus slaughtered all the Europeans on 
whom they could lay their hands, they remembered that there were 
a few native Christians, and they eagerly sought them out, resolved 
not to leave a single representative of the religion of Jesus in 
Bareilly when the sun of that day should set. Their full purpose 
thus became apparent, and God alone could prevent them from 
consummating it. 

We had in all six Christians, of whom two or three were then 
regarded as converted, the rest were seekers ; but all were equally 
exposed to the dreadful rage which that noon burst so unexpectedly 
upon them. In the cloud of darkness and terror which settled 
over them they were at once hidden from my view. Where they 
were, or whether alive or dead, I could not find out. Those Euro- 
peans who escaped and joined us could tell me nothing at all about 
them, though I anxiously questioned all who might by any pcssi- 
bility know. I also succeeded in bribing two natives, who remained 
faithful to us and came up with the ladies, to venture down and 
seek for Joel and the rest, promising a large reward for any intelli- 
gence of him or them ; but the messengers did not return to us, 



JOEL'S ESCAPE. 2$ I 

and we were left to suppose that they — our Christians — were 
nowhere to be found in or around Bareilly. Of the death of any 
of them we received no information ; so we kept on hoping that 
heathen rage had confined itself to the Europeans, and that the 
others, though scattered, were uninjured. How little we knew 
what they had suffered ! 

Though at the risk of anticipating events which date further on, 
I must here give the facts as I was enabled to ascertain them. 
As soon as any communication was established between Calcutta 
and the Upper Provinces on the south side of the Ganges — for all 
north of that river was still held by the Sepoys — I sent off letters 
to every place to which I thought it likely Joel could have escaped. 
He also was trying to reach me by letters, but could not. One of 
my communications at last found him, as I had hoped, in Allaha- 
bad, and, in response to my request, he gave me a narrative of 
what befell him and the rest on that dreadful day. All his state- 
ments we afterward confirmed together on the spot in every 
particular. 

Instead of giving the facts myself, I prefer to present his deeply 
interesting letter, assured that the reader will kindly excuse its occa- 
sional imperfect English and Hindustanee idioms, rendering some 
words in a few places when it is necessary to give his meaning. I 
had told him that we had heard of the arrival at Calcutta of the first 
party of our missionaries, and that if he were outside the circle of 
danger and at Allahabad, and could communicate with Calcutta, to 
try and have them come where he was, as the seat of the North- 
west Government had been fixed at Allahabad, and all was safe 
there then ; also, that I felt assured, as the armies were rapidly 
breaking up the Sepoy forces, we at Nynee Tal who were still pre- 
served, though besieged, would soon be relieved, and our mission 
be once more established at Bareilly. I tried to cheer him, and 
sustain his faith in God. My letter took twelve days to reach him 
having to go out through the mountains behind us, and then along 
their crest till it could reach the Ganges, and get beyond the range 
of the rebels m Rohilcund, In reply he writes : 



2 52 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

"Allahabad, February ^, 1858. 

"My Dear Sir, — Your long-expected letter, dated the i8th 
January, reached me on the ist instant. Though the interval is 
very long, still it was a source of very great consolation to me. It 
has given fresh vigor and courage. I became happy, exceedingly 
happy, from its perusal. And nothing could exceed my joy then 
to hear of the safety and welfare of self and Mrs. Butler, and the 
little bachchas, (children ;) increased more by the joyous news that 
another precious little darling [our daughter Julia, born after our 
flight] has been added to the number of the family, for which I 
must congratulate you. You ask in your letter why I did not 
write to you .'' True, I knew you were in Nynee Tal ; but I could 
see no way of safety for months and months. I could not know 
whether communication with Nynee Tal was open or not. The 
whole country was in such a dreadful disorder I was conscious 
that it would never reach you ; but the moment that I was assured 
communication was open, and my letter would fall in your hands, 
I immediately addressed you two letters in succession, but I am 
sorry to see it did not reach you. According to your request, I sit 
down with the greatest pleasure to give you an account of how I 
escaped. It was on the memorable 31st of May, on Sunday, that 
the mutiny of the Bareilly troops took place. I was busy with 
prayers with the other Christians after a sermon on ' Fear not, 
little flock,' etc., and about the middle of the closing prayer I was 
informed of the outbreak. I instantly closed, and began to look 
out for the safety of my wife and child. The Chowkeydar (watch- 
man) aided me in getting the Christian women concealed. I then 
returned to the Bungalow, (my residence.) By this time it was 
partly looted and in flame. Seeing it on fire, I threw down the 
keys, thinking no use to keep keys now, [a very innocent and just 
conclusion of poor Joel's.] Palwansing and Isaac [two of the 
native Christians] disguised themselves as gardeners. I went to 
see if the women were safe, and returned, when I saw Tuggu and 
another man attacking Isaac with a tulwar to rob him. Palwan- 
sing signaled me not to come near, as Tuggu had just said they 



JOEL'S ESCAPE. 253 

were searching for me to kill me. They went ofF, and I came for- 
ward, and then I saw Maria [our first female member in Bareilly, 
and a good Christian girl] coming, running through the trees, but 
before any of us could reach her a Sowar [mounted Sepoy] caught 
sight of her and turned, and with his tulwar he struck her head 
off. 

" Seeing all was over, Isaac fled toward Budaon. I heard he 
was killed on the road. How providential that Emma was a 
brand plucked out from burning, for in the house where she was 
going afterward to hide herself a good many Europeans were con- 
cealed, and not long after the house was burned by the Sowars, 
when, with a few exceptions — who were afterward killed — all per- 
ished. Emma escaped. Your Dhobin (washerwoman) caught her 
hand as she was entering, and said, ' You must not go in there.' 
Again, as Emma was sitting with these women, disguised as one 
of them, she was remarked by a Sepoy to be a Christian woman, 
[her bright, intelligent face might well betray her,] and here again 
the Dhobin's intercession saved her. [This faithful creature also 
buried Maria's body under the rose hedge. I had the gratification 
afterward of meeting her on the spot, and rewarding her for the 
humanity she showed our Christian people.] As soon as it was 
dark I went to the store-room, where I had, on the first alarm, 
hidden my Bible, and money, and clothes, under the charcoal, but 
they were all gone ; so we started on foot, and, not knowing where 
to go, directed our steps toward Allahabad. The Chowkeydar came 
with us. We did not arrive here till after various wanderings and 

troubles, tasting the bitterness of death as it were at every step 

night and day walking— with my wife, who before could not rough 
it for half a mile, [she was delicate and weak,] doing some 
twenty-four or twenty-six miles a day, suffering the pangs of hun- 
ger, thirst, and fatigue, and pressed with dangers and difficulties ; 
in perils often, Budmashes [thieves and ruffians] scattered every 
place. I carried the child, but after the first twelve miles Emma 
gave out, said she could go no farther, so we had to stop and rest 
her, resuming our walk at three o'clock in the morning, and going 



2 54 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

on till nine. Fearing the Budmashes, we left the road and took 
side paths, which brought us to a village. We had nothing to eat 
since Sunday morning, but could get nothing there except parched 
gram, (pulse for horses.) Eat a little and pushed on again. 

" By this time Emma's poor feet gave out with soreness, so we 
bound them up with soft rags to make it easier to walk. We 
reached Mohumdee, which was infested, and were soon surrounded ; 
but the Hindoo Jamedar (police officer) rescued us out of their 
hands, and asked who we were. I told him, ' Give food and shel- 
ter, for we are strangers, and I will tell you who we are, and where 
going.' He did, and then asked, 'Are you Hindoos or Moham- 
medans .'' ' I said, * Neither ; we are Christians.' He advised us 
not to stop there, but to push on at once. We did, and on near- 
ing Shahjehanpore I saw a Hindoo that I knew. Took him aside, 
and asked him if any Europeans in S. The man said, ' Not one ; 
all killed.' So we turned off and made for Seetapore. Seeing a 
man watering fields I asked him if any Sahib logs [white gentle- 
men] at Seetapore. He said he ' had heard that they were all 
killed or gone.' We entered and passed through, and rested under 
a tamarind-tree beyond. Two Hindoos came by, and told of their 
own accord how the Sahibs were killed there, and added, ' We are 
hunting for a native Christian.' I asked why they should search 
for him. They replied, ' He has defiled himself by eating with 
Christians.' I said, 'Nothing that a man eats can defile him.' 
Then they asked, ' Who are you } ' The Chowkeydar was afraid, 
and tried to put off the question. But I replied, ' I am a Christian.' 
They were not pleased, but went on. Soon meeting with two 
other men they pointed back to our party. For fear of mischief 
we rose and went on our way, and escaped them. My crying 
toward God was, ' O that my head were waters, and mine eyes 
fountains of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain 
of the people of the Almighty ! ' At length we reached Lucknow, 
which had not yet fallen, and there saw Sir Henry Lawrence and 
other Englishmen. One of them asked me all about Bareilly. 
After resting we went on toward Allahabad. In two days reached 



JOEL'S ESCAPE. 255 

Cawnpore. Stopped on the east bank of the Ganges to find out 
what was the state of C. Found it surrounded on all sides by the 
rebels under Nana Sahib, and the bridge guarded by two cannon ; 
so we kept on the east bank two days' journey more, till we saw a 
boat, and the man took us over for a rupee, 

" Nearing Futtehpore we met crowds of people hurrying away, 
and asked, * What is the matter ? ' They said, ' O the English are 
coming and sweeping all before them ! ' They were in great ter- 
ror, but we rejoiced now, though we did not tell them so. Not 
fearing the English, we went on through the flying crowd to meet 
them. Just then came to the Ten Commandments and Mr. Tuck- 
er's house at F. [Mr. T. was a noble Christian — a magistrate — 
who had had the Commandments cut on two large stone slabs in 
the native language, and set up by the road-side near his gate, that 
all persons passing by might read them. They were very large 
and prominent.] I stood near and read them to our party, then 
went into Mr. T.'s fine house and took possession, for all was 
empty. Mr. T. was killed the day of the mutiny. Found good 
mangoes in the garden and eat them. Started next morning. 
The villages were deserted. In the evening we lay down in a serai 
all alone, and slept comfortably, knowing the English must be 
near. Next morning we were rejoiced to see a white man's face — 
a man with a party repairing the telegraph. We told him all, and 
he told us about Allahabad, and that Mr. Owen and all were in 
the fort there. 

" We soon met the army ; they did us no harm ; my health and 
spirits revived ; we slept near them that night. It was either Neil 
or Havelock. [It was probably General Neil, with the vanguard of 
Havelock's force.] Reached Allahabad next day, so happy to find 
my friends again. God had heard and saved us, though we had 
been robbed of every thing except a single covering for our bodies ; 
yet here we are at last, joined to our people once more. Thanked 
and praised be God's holy name, who not only supported and gave 
us strength, but enabled us to endure all the changes of nature, and 
safely brought us thus far ; and now additional joy has been afforded 



256 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

us by the receipt of your letter, to find you all in health and com- 
fort. How I long to see you, and wish I was with you ! 

" The fatigue and trouble so overtook Emma, that even up to 
this time she is in very delicate health. [No wonder. It makes 
me now shudder to imagine what such a gentle and tender creature 
Tnust have endured in that dreadful walk of three hundred and forty 
miles, in the raging heat of an India June, without nourishment, 
and exposed to insult and even death all the time.] The Allaha- 
bad Mission is a heap of ruins. Mr. Owen's bungalow was burned 
to ashes, and all the furniture and books of the mission and the 
college destroyed ; the church sadly mutilated, though, thank God ! 
no serious damage done to it that cannot be restored with a little 
outlay ; the press, too, and every thing connected with it, all ruined. 
Mr. Munniss and Mr. Owen had both to escape to Calcutta. But 
Mr. Owen has now returned. You must have heard of the deaths 
of the Futtyghur missionaries. They were murdered either at 
Bithoor or at Cawnpore. [And it occurred about the very time 
that Joel passed in the vicinity of these places on his way down. 
How little he imagined that those he knew and loved so well were 
there, within probably a mile of where he passed, enduring the 
agonies of Christian martyrdom !] All the houses of the native 
Christians here were burned and destroyed. 

" You write wishing Messrs. Pierce and Humphrey, with their 
wives, to join me ; but I think if impossible. The ladies at any 
rate cannot go up with them, at least for some months hence, and 
it is not the orders of the Commander-in-Chief that ladies may go 
to the upper provinces. I have written to Messrs. Pierce and 
Humphrey to come here and learn something of the language till 
the time when Bareilly is retaken. 

" I am really very much obliged to you for your kind care of me 
during these troublesome times ; but as I am at present working 
on the railway here, and earn something to support myself and 
family, I do not see any necessity of your taking any further trouble 
about me in regard to money, until such time as I shall be with 
you again. But whenever, if I will require, I will tell you ; and, 



CONTRASTED SCENES. 257 

over and above, I think you can hardly spare any thing, yourself 
being in trouble. 

" I am not at all discouraged with this trouble ; on the contrary, 
I hope it has been sanctified to my good. God forbid that I may 
be discouraged ! but may he grant me that grace which may make 
my hope strong and my faith firm ; and would to God that new 
vigor should be afforded me in the path of duty ! My wife joins 
with me in sending her remembrance and regards to Mrs. Butler, 
Mr. Gowan, [whom he supposed to be with our party,] and to all 
others acquainted with me, and in prayers for our speedy restora- 
tion in the field of our labor. My mother-in-law and Jonas and 
wife offered their best regards to you both. Emma says, ' Give 
my salaam [the prayer for peace and blessing] to my mother ; ' that 
is to say, to Mrs. Butler. 

" Believe me to be your most obedient servant, 

"Joel T. Janvier." 

I communicated again with Joel, sending money, and requested 
him to stand ready to release himself from his situation, and join 
me as soon as I should call him to his higher work. I knew his 
heart and could rely upon him. General Havelock's progress was 
necessarily slow, the fall of Delhi was delayed ; but the hour of 
relief, on the south-west of our position, came at length, and I was 
enabled to reach the plains on the Dehra Doon side, and have him 
join me once more. 

Every thing English in Bareilly — people, houses, furniture — was 
ruthlessly destroyed, all save the house which the English officers 
had used as a Freemasons' Lodge. The poor superstitious Sepoys 
understood that there was something mysterious transacted there, 
and it might not be safe or lucky to interfere with it in any way. 
So there it stood in its integrity, when we returned to Bareilly, 
alone and unharmed amid the ruins of the English station. 

After their carnival of blood and ruin had been consummated in 
Bareilly the Sepoys began the work of dividing the plunder, and 
strange and fantastic were the scenes as they were afterward 



258 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

described to us. The newly-elected Sepoy officers, who were now 
to fill the places of their superiors, were decked out, according to 
their new rank, in the clothes and equipments of the murdered 
officers, strolling about or riding in their carriages, and doing what 
they could to enforce the same salutes and honors that were for- 
merly paid to the English officers. Their fellows would grin and 
ridicule their demands, so that the prospects of discipline or sub- 
ordination were very poor, and from the first intimated that defect 
which was one of the causes of their failure. 

How strange it seems now to remember that, on that very Sab- 
bath-day, and at the very hours when these deeds were done, and 
hell seemed to run riot in Bareilly, in the city of Boston there was 
being held one of the most holy and impressive services ever v/it- 
nessed there. Bromfield-street Methodist Church was crowded that 
day to witness the consecration of Messrs. Pierce and Humphrey 
to the missionary work — Bareilly being their destination ! God 
never looked down at the same hour upon two greater contrasts 
than he gazed upon that day and night — the one worthy of heaven 
and its joy, the other — but we forbear. How would ten minutes' 
service of the telegraph (had it been then in use as it is to-day) 
have changed that holy, joyous scene in Bromfield-street into 
mourning and woe ! But the friends dreamed not of our sorrows, 
and God honored their faith and devotion, notwithstanding our 
sufferings and the suspension of our work. 

This dreadful 31st of May was, with few exceptions, the general 
day for rising all over the land. The scenes of Bareilly were 
repeated in all the cities of Rohilcund, Oude, the Doab, and the 
North-west Provinces. Volumes might be filled with the sad recit- 
als. But we have no heart for their repetition. One alone, till we 
come to speak of Cawnpore and Lucknow, must suffice ; and we 
give it because it was the station next our own — Shahjehanpore — 
forty-three miles east of Bareilly. The atrocities committed there 
were so cruel and complete that no Europeans escaped ; so we rely 
for our account of their sad fate upon the testimony of the natives 
themselves, as drawn out by subsequent Government inquiry. 



THE MASSACBE AT 8HAHJEEANP0RE. 259 

With well-dissembled enmity, the Sepoys at Shahjehaiipore went 
through their duties until the morning of the rising. They waited 
until their officers and their families had gone to church. This was 
the opportunity which they preferred. They rose e7t masse, and, 
having armed themselves fully — though those whom they were to 
overcome were entirely unarmed and defenseless worshipers in 
the house of God — stealthily proceeded in a body to the church. 
They must have taken their measures very quietly and quickly, for 
they entered while the congregation knelt in prayer, without caus- 
ing the least alarm, and in some instances dealt their deadly blows 
on the prostrate supphants before their presence was known or 
their purpose feared. Young Spens was on his knees in prayer 
when his shoulder was laid open by the savage lunge of a tulwar 
wielded by one of the murderous mutineers. The attack beino- 
simultaneous, the people were instantly on their feet, strugghng in 
mortal combat with their assailants. The heart-rending scene that 
ensued I cannot describe. Words seem too feeble to convey its 
horrors. It is beHeved that not one of the number of men, women, 
and children in that sanctuary ultimately escaped. 

Particulars have been ascertained concerning the sad fate of 
twenty-six of their number. These succeeded, by some means, 
in getting out of the furious fray and reaching the doors of the 
church, and, befriended by their syces, or coachmen, reached their 
carriages and drove off, scarcely knowing or caring whither. They 
only drew up at a place called Mohumdy, after a drive of many 
miles. Here they were well received by the Theeselder, or local 
officer, who seemed sincerely disposed to shield and serve them. 
The strongest defense at his disposal was a mud fort, and there he 
placed the fugitives, who began to breathe in hope. It was only 
tor a brief interval. A part of the Forty-first Sepoy Cavalry sud- 
denly appeared, and, having discovered the refugees, demanded 
their surrender. The remonstrances and resistance of the friendly 
Theeselder were in vain. 

On being given up they were put into their own carriages and 
driven off under the escort of their captors. Before starting, how- 



26o THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

ever, the disabled and bandaged condition of young Spens, who 
was one of the party, excited the notice of one of the troopers, who 
stepped up and cleft him in pieces, coolly remarking that it was 
useless taking a wounded man with them to cumber them. 

Whether they had any specific intention concerning their cap- 
tives on starting it is impossible to say ; but it is certain that, after 
proceeding for some time, they halted, as if in accordance with a 
pre-arranged purpose. Opening the carriages, they ordered the 
ladies and children to step out. The unhappy husbands and fathers 
entreated to be taken in their stead. Impatient of the slightest 
resistance, they dragged the babes and their mothers to the ground, 
and, with a refinement of cruelty, dismembered and mutilated 
them in the presence of their powerless protectors. Having fin- 
ished with them, they fell upon the men and butchered them also, 
and then drove off with the empty carriages, leaving the mangled 
bodies dishonored and exposed upon the road, to be devoured by 
the jackals and birds of prey. Some friendly villagers, however, 
soon after they had gone, dug a pit near the spot and buried the 
outraged remains. 

A leading American journal very justly remarked at the time : 
" Horrible are the atrocities which mark the progress of the pres- 
ent rebellion. The North American savage need no longer be con- 
sidered the monster of human cruelty, as the red man has found 
his match in the Sepoys, who cut off women's ears, eyes, and noses, 
destroying them by tortures worthy of the diabolical rage and 
malignity of Satan himself" Indeed, one may venture to go fur- 
ther, and say that history may be searched in vain to find a parallel 
to the riot, plunder, and murder of those dreadful days. The num- 
ber of the slain and mutilated will probably never be known. 
Inquiry has ascertained, however, that, apart from the relieving 
army, not less than fifteen hundred Englishmen and Englishwomen 
must have perished, not half of whom probably found the rest of 
the grave : their bodies lay upon the waste, or were dragged out 
of the bazaars, or left amid the wreck of their own homes, to lie 
neglected and become the food of dogs and jackals, or the foul birds 



THE MURDERED MISSIONARIES. 26 1 

of prey. How sad were the cases of which I had personal knowl- 
edge, as well as the histories to which I have listened during the 
subsequent years, particularly of the trials and tortures to which 
ladies were subjected Y Volumes might be filled with the dreadful 
details of these shameful atrocities : we can, however, name a few 
of the sufferers. 

Of the Missionaries of the various societies within the circle 
around our position, the following suffered a cruel death at the 
hands of the Sepoys in the cities named : 

Rev. W. H. and Mrs. Haycock, and Rev, H. and Mrs, Cockey, 
at Cawnpore, of the English Gospel Propagation Society. 

Rev. J. E. and Mrs. Freeman, Rev. D. E. and Mrs. Campbell, 
Rev. A. O. and Mrs. Johnson, and Rev. R. and Mrs. Macmullin, 
at Futtyghur, of the American Presbyterian Mission. 

Rev. T. Mackay, at Delhi, Baptist Missionary Society, 

Rev. A. R, Hubbard and Rev. D. Sandys, at Delhi, Enghsh 
Gospel Propagation Society. 

Rev, R. and Mrs. Hunter, at Sealcote, Scotch Kirk. 

Rev. J. Maccallum, at Shahjehanpore, Addit. Clergy. Society, 

Some of these had children, who suffered with them. 

Several Chaplains also were killed : Mr. Jennings in Delhi, Mr. 
Polehampton in Lucknow, Mr. Moncriefif at Cawnpore, and Mr. 
Copeland. 

The mission property destroyed was estimated at the value of 
^344,400. Of this heavy loss, by far the greater portion fell upon 
the English Church Missionary Society, and the American Pres- 
byterian Missions, The former lost $160,000, and the latter about 
$ 1 30,000. 

Thus the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church to India 
was, in the first year of its establishment, covered with a cloud, and 
the faith and patience of our Church was severely tested. It became 
a solemn question, how the Church would take this dispensation ot 
Providence. Will she recede at the first difficulty 1 Will she 
give way because earth and hell have roused themselves up to 
resist her .? Nay, " Greater is He that is for us than all that can 



262 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

be against us." Besides, our experience is not singular. Many 
missions that have been eminently successful have had very unpro- 
pitious beginnings ; and God eminently honored the faith that did 
not shrink from difficulties. We recollect with what interest the 
Church of Scotland sent forth her first missionary, Dr. Duff, to lay 
the foundation of her mission in India. But seldom has a voyage 
been more protracted or disastrous than Dr. Duff's first voyage to 
India in 1830. His ship went down off the coast of Africa, and 
he lost all he possessed in the world, (including a valuable library, 
too,) except one copy of the word of God, he and his devoted wife 
barely escaping with their lives. They made their way to the Cape 
of Good Hope, and sailed again ; but, off the Mauritius, came near 
foundering, and actually were a second time shipwrecked in the 
Bay of Bengal : so that their disastrous voyage lasted eight months 
from the time they left England till they reached Calcutta. But 
what a glorious work of God has sprung from that perilous and 
untoward commencement ! God grant that the Methodist Mission 
to North India, notwithstanding " the fight of afflictions " in which 
it was begun, may find its sufferings, and its faith and patience, 
honored by similar success! And why not .'' I thank God i^/^ were 
not discouraged. Notwithstanding all we had passed through, or 
might pass through, we lost neither heart nor hope ; we still held 
on to the expectation that India had a bright future before it, and 
that our mission would live, and " triumph in Christ," among the 
very people at whose hands we had suffered. 

The refugees from Moradabad reached us by the southern pass 
within a couple of hours of those from Bareilly. We went to 
meet them ; and how hearty was each congratulation upon their 
escape and safe arrival ! Each man, too, added to the force for our 
defense, and so strengthened tcs. One officer, as he came over the 
brow of the hill, and caught his first view of Nynee Tal, looked 
delighted, as he rested his loaded rifle by his side, till a sudden 
thought flushed his face with anxiety, and, turnihg to us, he asked, 
'* But are we safe here .-'" We dared not answer ; for we had been 
asking that question of our own fears for many previous hours, as 



TEMPERING TEE WIND. 263 

the fearful emergency in its character and extent opened out so 
seriously before our view. 

A wonderful circumstance occurred in connection with the flight 
of these people from Moradabad, which illustrates the idea so often 
expressed of that tender mercy which 

•' Tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." 

The English Government requires a constant supply of elephants 
for carrying forage, drawing and handling cannon and timber, and 
other heavy work for the army and commissariat. As these huge 
creatures do not breed in captivity, the required supply can only be 
kept up by constant additions from the herds of wild elephants 
which roam the great Terai forest surrounding the Himalaya 
Mountains. To accomplish this a regular department is organ- 
ized, which trains the more docile of the female elephants to aid in 
capturing the wild ones in the Terai, and they lend themselves to 
the work with a sagacity and a fidelity that is truly wonderful. 
At the head of this "Elephant Department" was a Major Baugh, 
whose residence was at Moradabad. On the very morning of the 
mutiny his lady was confined, and in less than four hours after that 
event the Sepoys rose. The Major's feelings may be imagined when 
he rushed into his home and broke the dreadful news to his wife as 
she lay in her chamber with her baby by her side. The agonized 
husband looked at them, and was almost speechless with horror in 
anticipation of the destruction that would be at their door in a few 
moments. But the heroic lady, notwithstanding her situation, was 
equal to the emergency. With a word of cheer to the sad husband, 
she made the astounding proposal to him to bring the buggy at 
once to the door. It was done. She then told him to take a bed 
and put it in the buggy, and to lift her up and carry her and her 
baby out, and lay them on the bed, and try to escape. Then com- 
mending themselves to Heaven's help, the husband, having his sword 
in one hand and the horse's bridle in the other, they commenced the 
dreadful and uncertain march for the foot of the mountains, fifty 
miles distant, over a rough road, crossed by numerous rivers, not 



264 'I'iiE LAKD OF THE VEDA. 

one of which was then bridged. Twenty miles of the road lay 
through the malarious Terai ; while they were liable at any hour 
to be overtaken and cut to pieces, yet not daring to go faster than 
a walk, for the poor lady's life could not bear more than the strain 
it was at that rate enduring — and all this beneath that blazing sun 
of May ! 

I leave it to those who may read these facts to imagine, if they 
can, what must have been that husband's feelings during those 
thirty-six hours of sympathy and fear ! But the dear lady went 
through it all, reached the foot of the hills, was carried up the 
remaining eleven miles in a jampan, and was received and wel- 
comed by us with the tender commiseration and respect that were 
due to one who had gone through such an experience. We hardly 
dared to hope that she could really survive it, but thought it must 
kill her and her babe too. But no ! a merciful Providence carried 
her safely through. Her recovery was rapid, and in three weeks 
after her escape she made her appearance upon the Mall which runs 
around the lake, looking, though pale, so cheery and grateful as 
each gentleman she met lifted his hat in homage to one who had 
drawn so deeply upon our sympathies, and whose appearance again 
gave us as much pleasure as if she had been a personal friend or a 
sister of ours. 

Had our enemies only followed us up at once, instead of waiting 
to burn, and plunder, and dispute about rank and methods of action, 
they could most certainly have been upon us before we were pre- 
pared for resistance. But we made good use of the forty-eight 
hours which their wrangling allowed ; and when they reached the 
foot of the hills our measures were taken, and we stood ready for 
them — so far as a handful could be ready for a host of Sepoys and 
Budm ashes. With a good glass, from certain points we could 
catch a glimpse of their out-lying pickets when they pushed up to 
Julee 

As soon as the last refugee had reached us we held a " council 
of war," to see what could be done. The first thing was to ascer- 
tain our numbers ; so we counted heads, and found that we 



THE ILLUSTBIOUJS GASBISOIi OF NTNEE TAL. 265 

were eighty-seven gentlemen, with one hundred and thirteen ladies 
and children to protect. By general consent Major Ramsay, the 
Commissioner, was elected Commandant. We voted ourselves a 
sort of militia in her Majesty's service, and pledged the Major our 
full duty and obedience to defend the place to the last extremity. 
Somehow or other all of us were supplied with arms ; those who 
had more than enough divided with those who had none. Here 
was a case where " he who had no sword " would willingly " sell 
his garment and buy one," for " the days of vengeance " were upon 
us, and we had a duty to fulfill on behalf of ladies and little ones 
that admitted of no hesitation, in view of the relentless enemy who 
now hemmed us in on every side. 

Having elected our Commandant and distributed our arms, the 
worthy Major asked us to stand up in line, that he might address 
us a few words. Each shouldered his weapon, and the line was 
formed. The Commandant looked at his little force. He could 
not help smiling, serious as he and we felt, for a more " awkward 
squad " than we appeared no commandant ever inspected. Among 
the eighty-seven, as they then stood, each " a high private," were 
three generals, gray headed and bent with years ; a number of 
colonels, majors, and captains ; some doctors, judges, and magis- 
trates ; a few Indigo planters, merchants, and shopkeepers ; two 
English chaplains, and myself, the only American in the party — 
from the man of fourscore down to the boy of seventeen : yet half 
of the number had probably never fired a shot in anger, if at all, 
and had to learn every thing in their new profession. 

Our commander's speech was a very brief one. Its burden was 
the duty that we owed to the ladies and children, with the assur- 
ance that, far-off and isolated as we were, England would find us 
out and rescue us if we could only hold on till her forces arrived ; 
that, whatever came, the last man must fall at his post ere one of 
those wretches should cross our defenses. Our hearts were sad 
enough, but we cheered the speech. We were, to a man, willing 
to fight, and, if necessary, to die to defend the ladies. 

I walked home with my musket on my shoulder and my pockets 



266 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

full of ball cartridges and caps, greatly to my wife's surprise, who 
met me at the door and declared there must be some mistake: 
she had '*' married a Methodist preacher, and not a soldier." But 
I took that gun as a religious duty, and intended to use it, too, if I 
had a chance ; for surely these were circumstances in which a 
Christian could pray God to " teach his hands to war and his fin- 
gers to fight." Before one of those bloody men below should burst 
our bounds, or lay a finger on one of the ladies who relied upon 
our protection, as, under God, their only hope, I should certainly 
have fired my last charge, and then laid around me with the butt- 
end, and, having done all, have "died at my post." So would 
every man of our number. 

But the rascals below were not very anxious to give us a chance 
to show how valiant we were, so we rested on our arms and awaited 
their pleasure. 

The twenty-five faithful Sowars who had stood firm and come 
up with their officers were quite a help to us ; but in spite of what 
the brave fellows had risked for their fidelity, (for word had reached 
them that their fellow-Sepoys would kill their children, whom they 
had to leave behind in Bareilly, if they did not forsake us,) yet we 
secretly dreaded to trust them fully, so they were placed down the 
hill a mile or two to guard that pass, and our " munition of rocks " 
was defended by our own right arms alone. The hill men, called 
Paharees, being probably aborigines, hate the plains' men, and the 
dislike is returned with equal cordiality. We made no effort to 
heal this breach, but rather fomented it. The Commandant hired 
and trained as many of these Paharees as he could. We had thus 
done all we could for our own preservation — placed a small force 
at the bottom of the hill, then posts every mile or two, which could 
fall back on each other if overpowered. Half-way we had a small 
cannon planted, the grape of which would mow down any advanc- 
ing party ; then on convenient turns and narrow places great 
heaps of stone and trees, denuded of their branches, were ready to 
be rolled down upon any foe that would venture to come up these 
passes ; then the road had been cut so narrow in places that 



THE VALUE OF OUR HEADS. 267 

only two men could walk abreast on the verge of the precipice ; we 
had also undermined the road in several places, so that an invad- 
mg party could be so isolated that they could neither go back 
nor forward. In addition, we were well armed, and ready, by day 
or night, when the signal gun was fired, to rush to the top of the 
pass, and die there sooner than the enemy should force it, or that 
a single one of those one hundred and thirteen ladies and children 
should fall into the hands of those vile wretches. We felt assured, 
as we looked at our work, that a handful could hold the place 
against multitudes if their ammunition only held out and their 
provisions lasted ; but that was the question just then. 

Our congregation was a sad one. With the exception of my 
wife and another person, every lady of the party wore some badge 
of mourning, showing that either relatives or near friends had been 
killed. Of course house and property were utterly destroyed in 
every case, while the enemies of our Lord and Saviour were raging 
and blaspheming below, thirsting for our blood, and vowing, by all 
their gods, that they would soon have it, and thus finish up their 
fiendish work. In such circumstances what a significance many 
parts of the word of God had for us ! " The denunciatory Psalms," 
which in a calm and quiet civilization seem sometimes to read 
harshly, were in our case so apposite and so consistent that we 
felt their adaptation and propriety against these enemies of God as 
though they had been actually composed for our special case. 
How we used to read them with the new light of our position, and 
how they drew out our confidence in God for the final issue ! 

Khan Bahadur, the new Nawab of Rohilcund, strengthened his 
force to hem us in, and issued his list of prices for our heads, 
beginning with Mr. Alexander, the Commissioner. Five hundred 
rupees was, if I recollect rightly, the price he put upon my poor 
head. Every expedient was used to urge his men to storm our 
position ; but their spies (for they had such) considerably cooled 
their ardor by the representation of our resolution and prepara- 
tions ; so they came to the conclusion that if they could not get up 
to kill us, they would do the next best thing for them, by starving 



268 ^ THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

US out, which would answer about as well. But we as decidedly 
resolved that we would not be starved, so we set to work to make 
the best commissariat arrangements of which the case admitted. 

There was a very sparse population of the Paharees sprinkled 
about in the valleys between us and the higher Himalayas, and 
every thing these people had to spare we bought up ; the lake fur- 
nished some fish, and the forest around had game. The latter, 
however, was not much aid to us, as it was not prudent to waste 
our ammunition, nor, in view of our signals, was it desirable to 
have much firing in our neighborhood. We did as well as we 
could ; but as week after week went over we felt the pressure more 
sensibly. Money grew scarce, and clothing, shoes, and other ne- 
cessities, became harder to obtain. 

In about two weeks after our flight the terrible jungle fever, 
which we hoped we had escaped the night when we were detained 
in the Terai, began to develop itself, (taking about that time to do 
so,) and soon our little home was a scene of sickness, while help 
and medicine were so very scarce. Every one of us had to go 
through it, four out of the five being down with it at the same time. 
In the midst of this scene of weakness and sorrow our daughter 
Julia was born. The day she came was the darkest we had ever 
seen. Illness, tropical rains, want of help, a scarcity of proper 
nourishment for the poor mother, with the uncertainty as to the 
moment when we might be assailed, and my liability to have to 
leave the sick household to go to my post at the pass, all consti- 
tuted a strain upon the soul of one anxious mortal that I feel 
thankful does not often fall to the lot of a husband to endure. 

But, notwithstanding, the dear babe brought the light with her. 
A father's heart may be allowed to say that her presence helped to 
disperse some of the gloom of the dark days that followed, and 
added a new motive for vigilance and courage. Yes, let the 30th 
01 June stand as " a red-letter day" in the life of one so deeply in- 
debted as I am to the ruling providence of my God! Our "part- 
ners in distress " were pleased to designate her " The Mutiny 
Baby,' and many a kind word and act were lavished upon her. 



HUNQBT FOB NEWS. 269 

Of course our mails were cut off — we were completely isolated 
from all the world. We could stand on our magnificent elevatior. 
and look out upon the plains of India, the horizon stretching for a 
hundred miles from east to west — could trace the courses of the 
rivers, and see the forests and towns in the dim distance — but could 
only imagine what was being done down there. The handful of 
villagers around us told us that we were the last of Christian 
life left in India ; that from where we stood to the sea, nearly a 
thousand miles on each side, every white man had been murdered, 
and the last vestige of our religion swept away. We well knew if 
this were so our fate was but a question of time ; yet " against 
hope " I " believed in hope." I felt that this could not be true, for 
Jesus Christ was still on the throne which governs this world, and 
he would not thus allow the clock of progress to be put back for 
centuries, nor yield to earth or hell the conquests won on the 
oriental hemisphere. 

Our " raging foes " kept up their alarms, but we estimated them 
at their worth, and stood on our guard day and night with unre- 
laxed vigilance. How we longed for news ! A letter or a news- 
paper would have been more precious than rubies ; but we were 
destined to know for weary months what " hunger for news " 
meant. Our food was often scanty ; but we would willingly have 
done without it, even for days, to have received instead a feast of 
information, more particularly about those whom we left below, 
and of whose fate we were so uncertain. 

We tried hard to establish some means of communication, but 
Lhey were all failures. The few natives that remained faithful 
were offered the largest bribes which our means afforded, to go 
down and bring us news of how matters stood — whether any of 
our friends survived, and if there was any prospect of relief. 
Four or five were induced to go, but only one returned, and he was 
mutilated. The rebels cut off his nose and ears, and the poor man 
was a frightful spectacle. Government afterward liberally pen- 
sioned him. We were indeed " shut up ;" life hung in uncertainty, 

and we " stood in jeopardy every hour." The outside world lost 
18 



270 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

sight of us, and some of our number were published as among the 
dead. 

In the midst of these vicissitudes the question was discussed 
whether we had not better, for the ladies' sake, try to cross the 
Himalayas and strike the Brahmapootra behind them, and so make 
our way by that river to Burmah ; a proposition that would have 
been madness to have attempted, situated as we were, without 
resources, and which would have involved our destruction. The 
fact of the proposition, however, shows the extremity to which we 
were reduced when intelligent men could seriously propose such a 
mode of escape. 

The Enghsh judge at Budaon, near Bareilly, was a pious gentle- 
man of the name of Edwards. Before the rebellion I had gone, at 
his earnest request, to visit that place and hold divine service with 
his family on a Sabbath day. Two or three natives had been led 
to embrace Christianity, one of whom, named Wuzeer Singh, had 
resigned his position in a Sepoy regiment to join the Httle band 
whom Mr. E. cared for. The " mutiny " broke out soon after. 
Judge Edwards had sent his wife and child to Nynee Tal, but 
resolved, to use his own words, " to stick to the ship as long as 
she floated," and he remained, the only European officer in charge 
of his disliict, with 800,000 people within its bounds. "I went," 
he says, ' into my room and prayed earnestly that God would pro- 
tect and guide me, and enable me to do my duty." 

At six o'clock on Monday morning the Sepoys broke into open 
mutiny. . . . Mr. Edwards, revolver in hand, forced his way 
through the crowd, and approached a " fine, powerful Patau, about 
fifty years of age," named Moottan Khan, one of the leaders. Mr. 
E. rode up to him, and putting his hand on his shoulder, said, 
" Have you a family and little children 1 " The Patan nodded 
'Are they not dependent on you for bread.?" "Yes," was the 
answer. " Well, so have I," said Mr. E., " and I am confident you 
are not the man to take my life, and destroy their means of sup- 
port." Moottan Khan hesitated a moment, then said, " I will save 
your life ; follow me ;" and he escorted him out of the city. 



THE GARMENT OF PRAISE. 271 

Mr. E. reached a place of safety, a village owned by Hurdeo 
Buksh, a Talookdar, a man of wealth and influence, near Futty- 
ghur, one hundred and forty miles from Nynee Tal. For many 
months this noble, friendly Hindoo, at great peril, sheltered him, 
though constantly threatened by the rebels of Futtyghur. Mr. 
E. after some time succeeded in finding a man who, by the prom- 
ise of a large reward, was induced to venture to carry a message 
to Mrs. Edwards, in Nynee Tal. 

She, poor lady, was mourning for her husband in the bitterness 
of uncertainty and woe unspeakable, supposing that, like the rest, 
he had been murdered. 

Judge E. procured a small piece of paper, and wrote on it that 

he was still alive, and even well, and in a village named . Here 

he wrote the name of the village in Greek, lest the note should 
be discovered. He then, with a small knife, slit a bamboo walk- 
ing stick, inserted the tiny missive, and withdrew the knife. The 
slit closed so completely as to defy the skill of any seeker, though 
the messenger was often searched by the rebel police, but they 
never imagined that there was a letter in the walking-stick. The 
faithful native reached our position after a variety of adventures, 
and when challenged by our guards, declared he was a friend, and 
that he had a letter for delivery to Mem Sahib (Lady) Edwards. 
They conducted him to her. He found her dressed in mourning, 
supposing herself a widow. He told her his bamboo stick had a 
letter in it from her husband. He broke it, and there it verily 
was, in his own handwriting. In addition to expressing her own 
joy at the discovery, she knew the native mind and character well, 
and how to impress it, and that it was necessary that her 
action now should be significant, as she feared her reply might be 
lost, or would have to be destroyed by the messenger to save his 
life, and she must do something which would show him the joy 
which she felt ; so, telling him to wait, she retired, and soon came 
back again, and stood before him arrayed from head to foot in white 
clothing. He understood her perfectly, and started back by night 
on his dangerous journey to Judge Edwards. 



272 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

" Did you see the Mem Sahib ?" 

" Yes, Sahib," said the good fellow, " I saw herself in person," 

" Well, and how did she look, and what had she to say to you ? "^ 

In his estimation, how she looked, and what she said, were all 
summed up in one fact. 

" Sahib, when I gave her your chittee (letter) she was clothed in 
black, but when she read the chittee she immediately went into 
another room, and soon came back to me dressed all in whiter 

The affectionate wife and husband fully comprehended each 
other's feelings in that action, and we at Nynee Tal rejoiced with 
her that day that so providentially gave her " the oil of joy for 
mourning and the gai'inent of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 
It was six months and more before they were able to meet, but 
they could henceforward live in the hope of being again united in 
life and love together. There was one less on our mall from that 
day forward who wore mourning. 

Coming down the hill from our Thursday afternoon prayer- 
meeting one day, a military officer who had been present sought 
the opportunity of a private interview, and with much feeling he 
said to me : 

" O, sir, permit me to thank you from my heart for the earnest 
prayers which you put up to God this afternoon for the victory of 
my country's arms ! " 

I looked at the man and smiled ; asked him if we were not in 
"the same boat" just then, or whether he thought it likely that 
those wretches down there would pay more respect to my Stars 
and Stripes than to his English ensign } 

So we lived, and watched, and prayed. Meanwhile the terrible 
news of the Sepoy Rebellion had reached the shores of Europe 
and America. England was nerving her energies for our relief. 
Troops and munitions of war were being prepared as fast as possi- 
ble. A General, supposed equal to the emergency, was found in 
Sir Colin Campbell, for two Commanders-in-Chief had already 
fallen, (Generals Anson and Barnard,) and the little English army 
in India was without a head. The Queen telegraphed to Sir Colin, 



HELP AT LAST. 273 

after his acceptance of the position, requesting to be informed when 
he could be ready to leave England for the East ? His prompt and 
Spartan reply was telegraphed back, " To-morrow ! " The old 
chief's promptitude reminds one of another "to-morrow" in India's 
history. At the battle-field of Bidera, when Lord Clive, who founded 
the British Empire in the East, was Governor-General, Forde, who 
commanded, applied for written authority to begin the attack. His 
note reached Clive as he was playing cards with his company, and 
without quitting his seat, he took a pencil and wrote — 

" Dear Forde : Fight them immediately, and I will send you 
the order in council to-morrow ! " 

Sir Colin, of course, outran his army, for they could not, like 
him, start " to-morrow." But a merciful Providence had provided 
a vanguard of help in the army from Persia, (with which peace had 
just been concluded,) on their return to India. With this little 
force was that great and good man, General Havelock, whose 
promptitude and wonderful valor did so much to turn the dreadful 
tide, and rescue the besieged long months ere Sir Colin Campbel 
or his troops could reach India. General Havelock, returning vic- 
torious from Persia, landed at Bombay with his Highlanders on 
the very day before the massacre at Bareilly. Unable to cross the 
country, he went around by sea to Calcutta as rapidly as possible, 
reaching there June 17, having been delayed on the way by the 
total shipwreck of the vessel which carried him. His troops fol- 
lowed, and all that could be done to prepare for pushing up the 
country was accomplished by this indefatigable man, whom God 
had brought so opportunely to our aid. 

Not a day too soon did his succor come. Up to that hour the 
Sepoys had it all their own way ; one post after another had fallen 
before them ; they were gaining ground every week, and the hor- 
rors of the situation for the English were deepening daily. Sepoy 
success was followed by more desperate resolutions and more ter- 
rible measures, falsehood and blasphemy being added in any quan- 
tity for their purpose. The measures and spirit of these men may 



274 THE LAND OF THE YEDA. 

be judged from a sample of their public proclamations, issued from 
Delhi and Cawnpore to the whole Sepoy army, and the officials 
and people. 

The first proclamation was issued in the name of the Emperor's 
army defending Delhi, which the little English army was then try- 
ing to besiege ; and the Mogul Court desired to draw the whole 
Sepoy force in that direction to annihilate them. The glaring 
falsehoods in the following proclamation are manifest enough : 

" To all Hindoos and Mtissiilmans, Citizens and Servants of Hin- 
dustan, the Officers of the Army now at Delhi send greeting : 

" It is well known that in these days all the English have enter- 
tained these evil designs — first to destroy the religion of the whole 
Hindustanee army, and then to make the people Christians by 
compulsion. Therefore we, solely on account of our religion, have 
combined with the people, and have not spared alive one infidel, 
and have re-established the Delhi dynasty on these terms, and thus 
act in obedience to orders, and receive double pay. Hundreds of 
guns and a large amount of treasure have fallen into our hands ; 
therefore it is fitting that whoever of the soldiers and the people 
dislike turning Christians should unite with one heart and act 
courageously, not leaving the seed of these infidels remaining. 
Whoever shall in these times exhibit cowardice or credulity by 
believing the promises of those impostors, the English, shall very 
shortly be put to shame for such a deed ; and, rubbing the hands 
of sorrow, shall receive for their fidelity the reward the ruler of 
Lucknow got. It is further necessary that all Hindoos and Mus- 
sulmans unite in this struggle, and that all, so far as it is possible, 
copy this proclamation, and dispatch it every-where, so that all 
true Hindoos and Mussulmans may be alive and watchful, and fix 
it in some conspicuous place, (but prudently, to avoid detection,) 
and strike a blow with a sword before giving circulation to it. The 
first pay of the soldiers at Delhi will be thirty rupees per month 
for a trooper, and ten rupees for a footman, [a large advance on 
the English allowance.] Nearly one hundred thousand men are 



LYING AND BLASPHEMOUS PROCLAMATIONS 275 

ready ; and there are thirteen flags of the EngUsh regiments, and 
about fourteen standards from different parts, now raised aloft for 
our reUgion, for God, and the conqueror ; and it is the intention of 
Cawnpore to root out the seed of the devil. This is what we of the 
army here wish.'' 

But this was mildness compared to the following blasphemous 
proclamation next issued from Cawnpore by the Nana Sahib : 

"As by the kindness of God, and the good fortune of the Em- 
peror, all the Christians who were at Delhi, Poonah, Sattara, and 
other places, and even those five thousand European soldiers who 
went in disguise into the former city and were discovered, are 
destroyed and sent to hell by the pious arid sagacious troops who 
are firm to their religion ; and as they have all been conquered by 
the present Government ; and as no trace of them is left in these 
places — it is the duty of all the subjects and servants of the Govern- 
ment to rejoice at the delightful intelligence, and carry on their 
respective work with comfort and ease. 

" As by the bounty of the glorious Almighty and the enemy- 
destroying fortune of the Emperor, the yellow-faced and narrow- 
minded people have been sent to hell, and Cawnpore has been 
conquered, it is necessary that all the subjects, and land-owners, 
and Government servants should be as obedient to the present 
Government as they have been to the former one ; that it is the 
incumbent duty of all the peasants and landed proprietors of every 
district to rejoice at the thought that the Christians have been sent 
to hell, and both the Hindoo and Mohammedan religions have been 
confirmed ; and that they should as usual be obedient to the author- 
ities of the Government, and never suffer any complaint against 
themselves to reach to the ears of the higher authority." 

But even this is exceeded by the outrageous falsehoods of the 
proclamation with which he further imposed upon their credulity, 
and tried to rouse them to greater efforts. It finished up with 
what he deemed to be a suitable quotation from one of the Persian 
poets, and ran thus : 



276 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE NANA SAHIB. 

" A traveler just arrived at Cawnpore from Allahabad states that 
just before the cartridges were distributed, a Council (of the Gov- 
ernor-General at Calcutta) was held for the purpose of taking away 
the religion and rights of the people of Hindustan. The Members 
of Council came to the conclusion that, as the matter was one 
affecting religion, seven or eight thousand Europeans would be 
required, and it would cost the lives of fifty thousand Hindoos, but 
at this price the natives of Hindustan would become Christians. 
The matter was therefore represented in a dispatch to Queen Vic- 
toria, who gave her consent. A second Council was then held, at 
which the English merchants were present. It was then resolved 
to ask for the assistance of a body of European troops, equal in 
number to the native army, so as to insure success. When the 
dispatch containing this application was read in England, thirty- 
five thousand Europeans were very rapidly embarked on ships, and 
started for Hindustan. Then the English in Calcutta issued the 
order for the distribution of the cartridges, the object of which was 
to make Hindustan Christian. The cartridges were smeared with 
hog and cow's fat. One man who let out the secret was hung, and 
one imprisoned. 

" Meantime the embassador of the Sultan of Roum (Turkey) in 
London sent word to his sovereign that thirty-five thousand Euro- 
peans had been dispatched to Hindustan to make all the natives 
Christians. The Sultan (may Allah perpetuate his kingdom !) 
issued a firman to the Pasha of Egypt, the contents of which are 
as follows : 'You are conspiring with Queen Victoria. If you are 
guilt)- of neglect in this matter, what kind of face will you be able 
to show to God ? ' 

"When this firman of the Sultan of Roum reached the Pasha of 
Egypt, the Lord of Egypt assembled his army in the city of Alex- 
andria, which is on the road to India, before the Europeans arrived. 
As soon as the European troops arrived the troops of the Pasha of 
Egypt began to fire into them with guns on all sides, and sunk all 



THE BEAL SPIRIT OF THE MOSLEM GREED. 277 

their ships, so that not even a single European escaped. The 
English in Calcutta, after issuing orders for biting the cartridges, 
and when these disturbances had reached their height, were look- 
ing for the assistance of the army from London. But the Almighty, 
by the exercise of his power, made an end of them at the very out- 
set. When intelligence of the destruction of the army from London 
arrived, the Governor-General was much grieved and distressed, 
and beat his head. 

" 'At eventide he intended murder and plunder; 

At noon neither had his body a head nor his head a cover. 
In one i-evolution of the blue heavens 

Neither Nadir remained, nor a foUowrer of Nadir.' 

"Done by the order of his Grace the Peishwa, 1373 of the 
Hegira." 

Of course every word of this was believed by the Sepoys, for 
they not only had the proclamations of their Emperor and the 
Peishwa, but their Fakirs stood sponsors to the hideous falsehoods. 

How appropriate is all this to the spirit of the Moslem creed — 
a Government communicating to its subjects " the delightful intel- 
ligence," not that its enemies were defeated or slain, but that they 
were damned — "sent to hell!" Worthy indeed to be the succes- 
sors of Tamerlane, who, after proving his claim to the title of " the 
scourge of God," and marking his long track with massacre and 
desolation, coolly and complacently wrote with his own hand in his 
memoir that he felt it to be " a pious duty to assist God in filling 
hell chock-full of men and genii," 

When, in 1856, Sir Culling Eardly, the President of the Evan- 
gelical Alliance, wrote to Dr. Duff, of Calcutta, to ascertain the real 
sentiment of Mohammedans in India on a question in which the 
British people felt interested, (as their Government were then 
pressing certain reforms on the Sultan of Turkey, involving the 
principles of religious liberty for his subjects,) the world were some- 
what surprised at Dr. Duff's reply. His inquiries led him to the 
conviction that Mohammedanism (like Popery) is unchangeable; 
that, where it has the power, it would not only enforce its claims 



2/8 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and creed, but would do so at the sword's point. Individual 
Mohammedans may, like individual Romanists, be and are excep- 
tions to this statement, and better than their training ; but I speak 
of the system and of the general action — and here are its terrible 
illustrations in the hour of its opportunity. 

Our fate evidently hung upon that of Delhi. If that city fell, we 
should probably be saved ; if not, we must expect the worst, and 
that soon. But what could less than seven thousand soldiers and 
a few Sikh and Ghoorka allies do, and that in the open air and 
in the hottest season of the India year, against a strongly-fortified 
city, behind whose walls from forty to sixty thousand Sepoys 
fought ! The Commander-in-chief of the Sepoys was Bukt Khan, 
an acquaintance of my own, for he was from Bareilly, and was 
Subadar of Artillery under our friend Major Kirby. When I have 
sat with the Major in the cool of the evening, and seen this sleek 
Sepoy come in, with such profound courtesy to us both, to deliver 
his daily report, how little I could have imagined the part he 
would yet, and so soon, play behind the walls of Delhi, with the 
Major's coat and cocked hat upon him, and his sword by his side ! 

Even though that handful of Englishmen could not take the city 
till they obtained more assistance, it was of immense benefit to us 
and to India that they held so many Sepoys fast there. The rebels 
came out in force on the 23d of June, and fought for thirteen hours. 
Their "astrologers" had declared that "unless they should beat 
the English army ojt that day" (the anniversary and centenary of 
the battle of Plassey, the most important action of the English in 
India) " the British would hold the country forever." Hence the 
force and numbers with which they attacked, and the perseverance 
with which they kept up the contest. They were repulsed, how- 
ever, leaving, as usual, the English masters of the field. They 
were much discouraged at their failure. Their loss on that day 
was, after all, but small — not over 500 ; their mode of fighting 
accounts for this. When they can choose their own ground and 
method they are very averse to any thing like " close quarters," 
and much like the long-shot mode of warfare. This, and lurking 



OUB RAMPORE FRIEND. 279 

under the shelter of the garden walls that surround Delhi, was the 
leading reason why the English could not manage them. Had 
they come out and fought in the open field, the General would 
gladly have met them, .even with his so much smaller force, and a 
single day would probably have decided the whole contest. Be- 
sides, they found it made a great difference to them whether they 
were led by English officers or by officers of their own race. 

Our provisions were now becoming more and more scarce and 
dear. Instead of one hundred eggs for sixty-two and a half cents, 
as it used to be, we had now to pay five cents for a single Qgg, and 
all other things rose in value about in the same proportion. Just 
in our extremity, and quite unexpectedly to us, the Nawab of Ram- 
pore, a territory in the plains on the south of our position, sent up 
a confidential messenger to inquire what he could do for us } This 
was a great surprise, as he was a Mohammedan and governed a 
Mohammedan State, and we supposed that he would have gone 
with the Delhi conspirators. But, in the hour of decision, he 
remembered that he owed his throne to the justice of the English 
Government, which refused to carry out the will of the former sov- 
ereign of Rampore, one of whose wives induced him to arrange so 
as to cut off the rightful heir in favor of her little son. The English 
declined to commit this wrong, but, instead, confirmed the present 
Nawab ; and now, when he was appealed to by the Delhi faction to 
join them, he declared that, come what might, he would never draw 
his sword against a people whose justice had defended his rights. 
He quietly withstood all their persuasions and threats, even at per- 
sonal hazard, and was faithfully sustained in his resolution by his 
Minister and the Commander-in-chief of his little army — two men 
whom I had afterward the satisfaction of seeing publicly rewarded 
for their fidelity. 

This was a great providence for us. Had the Nawab proved hos- 
tile, especially as our south pass touched his territory, our position 
would have been probably untenable for a single week. But he 
quietly covered our danger on that side, and left our defenders 
more free to watch our Bareilly foes on the east pass. What he 



28o THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

did in our favor, however, he had to do quietly, so as not to rouse 
the fanaticism of his own population, or the hostility of Khan 
Bahadur Khan. 

On ascertaining our extremity he sent us rice, sugar, flour, etc., 
with some medicine and money — what he could spare and safely 
remit to us. We were certainly very much obliged to " his High- 
ness" for these unlooked-for succors. But even his messengers 
could not restrain their bigotry : they duly informed our few Ghoor- 
kas (hill soldiers) that "the 'King of Rohilcund' had raised an 
army of twenty thousand, and was casting cannon, etc. ; also, that 
the Emperor of Delhi had taken the Fort of Calcutta, and his vic- 
torious armies were spreading all over the country ! " So that even 
this help brought its own danger with it, and increased our anxiety. 
The road to the Punjab through Kurnal was most providentially 
kept open. The Punjab was the only source from which a man, or 
a barrel of flour, or a case of medicine, could reach the English 
army before Delhi. Had that road been closed upon them, their 
condition must soon have become desperate. But the circumstances 
that retained that key of their position in friendly hands was as 
providential as the good will of the Rampore Nawab toward us at 
Nynee Tal. Mr. Le Bas, the Judge of Delhi, owed his life on the 
day of the slaughter to the speed of his horse. He reached Kurnal, 
about forty miles to the north-west, and sought an interview with 
the Nawab. It was the hour of England's deepest humiliation, and 
Le Bas trembled for the loyalty of the Nawab. But early the fol- 
lowing morning he came to Mr. Le Bas and said : " I have spent 
a sleepless night in meditating on the state of affairs. I have 
decided to throw in my lot with yours. My sword, my purse, and 
my followers are at your disposal." 

Faithfully did the brave Nawab redeem his promise, and at the 
head of his little force he saved many a European life, several ladies 
among them, and kept the road to the Punjab open till Delhi fell, 
and the English Empire was restored. 

It is also a pleasure to record another instance of wonderful 
humanity from a very unexpected quarter. In the month of July 



OUB SUDDEN FLIGHT FBOM NTNEE TAL. 281 

a Fakir named Himam Bhartee found his way to Meerut, and pre- 
sented himself before Mr. Greathead, the Commissioner, with a little 
European baby in his arms, which he had found deserted and alone 
near the Jumna River. He had taken care of it, and even defended 
its life at great risk to himself, and delivered it up safe and sound. 
Mr. Greathead was delighted, and pressed the Fakir to receive a 
reward ; but he would accept none, and only expressed a desire 
that a Well might be made to bear his name and commemorate the 
act. The Commissioner promised it should be done, and the Fakir 
departed well pleased. Let the name of this humane creature live 
here, and my readers remember Himam Bhartee, of Dhunoura. 
The parents of the little one were never discovered ; but good 
Samaritans were found to adopt and love it. 

The sad monotony of our life was suddenly disturbed early on 
Sunday morning, August 4th, by an imperative message from our 
Commander, ordering all the ladies and children, with three or four 
gentlemen in charge of them, away at once that day from Nynee 
Tal to Almorah, thirty miles farther into the mountains. Informa- 
tion that he had received required this movement as a matter of 
precaution to them, while it would leave their husbands more free 
and unshackled to meet the emergencies that were expected to 
arise. 

Several reasons had concurred to lead to this measure. First of 
all, our provisions were becoming exhausted, and our supplies from 
below being (except from the Rampore side) cut off, the Commis- 
sioner felt himself quite puzzled to sustain our market. 

In the next place, the delay of the fall of Delhi was rendering 
our enemies more rampant, in the expectation that they would soon 
weary out and destroy the little English army (now reduced, be- 
sides Ghoorkas and Sikhs, to twenty-five hundred European bayo- 
nets) before its walls ; and then they hoped to make short work in 
other parts of the country. 

Another reason was, that our friend the Nawab of Rampore was 
considered to be exposed to peculiar danger at the approaching 
Eyde, (an annual festival of the Mohammedans, during which they 



282 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

are peculiarly excitable.) The Nawab's refusal to join the Bareilly 
rebels, and his kindness in sending us supplies and money, had 
rendered him very unpopular with the Mohammedan fanatics 
among his people, and it was feared that, during the Eyde, he 
might be assassinated, in which case his successor would probably 
have been elected with the express understanding that he shouM 
do what he could to aid the rebel interests, and, likely, to begin by 
an attempt to cut us off, as we were close at hand. 

The next and chief reason for our removal was, that Khan 
Bahadar Khan, the new " King of Rohilcund," had actually dis- 
patched an increased force from Bareilly to Nynee Tal, in order to 
destroy us ; and the Commissioner had certain information on 
Saturday morning that they had not only started, but were en- 
camped at Bahari, mid-way between Nynee Tal and Bareilly. 
Still, even this alone would not have caused us to leave, for " his 
army " were not likely to look our three hundred Ghoorka troops 
in the face, much less to have gone near the cannon and the body 
of English gentlemen with which we had fortified the head of the 
pass. But our anxiety was, that inasmuch as preparation to meet 
them involved the withdrawal of all the troops and the gentlemen 
ftom Nynee Tal, this would necessarily leave our ladies and chil- 
dren unprotected against any attempt that such an hour of oppor- 
tunity would present to the Mohammedans in the Nynee Tal 
Bazaar. Were they to rise while we were below, they might 
slaughter every soul of them in a single hour, and the more easily, 
should the rebels below agree, as they likely would, to attack us at 
both passes at once, so as to divide our little force. 

The distance from Nynee Tal to Almorah is thirty miles over 
the mountains, by a path which varies from four to six feet in 
width. It runs in some places on the very verge of precipices that 
are as nearly perpendicular as possible, while the depths below are 
sometimes frightful to look at. It requires great steadiness and 
care, from the rough and narrow path to be traversed, to go with- 
out danger, while in some places a single false s^ep, especially at 
night, is instant destruction. 



ZZV PERILS IN THE WILDERNESS AGAIN. 283 

Ladies are carried in a little chair-like vehicle by four men, with 
lour to relieve. Gentlemen generally ride one of the hill ponies, 
which are very sure-footed. The journey occupies three days, ten 
miles being as much as can be comfortably accomplished in one 
day. 

When our sudden order of departure came I arranged every- 
thing for the ladies intrusted to my charge, and sent them on, 
expecting to follow and overtake them in a short time ; but such 
was the demand, I could not obtain coolies enough to take their 
luggage (including food and bedding, which travelers must always 
carry with them) till four o'clock in the afternoon. I then started, 
but the lateness of the hour entailed on me a great deal of toil and 
suffering. Indeed, I never had such a journey in all my life as 
that was. For an hour or two I made my way tolerably well. 
The sunset was brilliant, and among other objects of interest were 
immense lizards (some of them full fourteen inches long) which were 
darting across my path and over the verges. My way lay over 
and around a succession of mountains — so it was constantly up and 
down — the valleys between varying from a quarter of a mile to a 
mile in width. The little torrents had torn the path here and 
there, and in some places it was so rocky and rough that it was 
very hard work to pick one's way over it. Going down the hill 
was, from the precipitous and stony condition of the narrow path, 
something like going down an irregular flight of stairs a mile or 
more in length. 

The daylight began to decline, and my little pony showed symp- 
toms of unsteadiness. The heavy rains had softened the edge of 
the path, and rendered it liable to give way under very moderate 
pressure, so that caution was doubly necessary. At one place that 
looked doubtful I dismounted, and had not gone many yards when 
one of the hind feet of the pony sank, which caused him to stag- 
ger, and in a moment he went hastily over the precipice. The 
jerk on the reins caused one of the bit buckles to give way, which 
was a great mercy, as it gave me an instant in which to turn round 
and lay some pressure on the reins as they flew through my hand, 



284 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and I was thus enabled in some degree to arrest his downward 
progress before he went too far to be recovered. 

There he clung, the poor brute, with merely his nose above the 
edge of the precipice, and he eagerly holding on to the bank like a 
man standing on a ladder. Beneath him sloped down the decliv- 
ity for several hundred feet, till the mist terminated the view ; 
what was beyond that limit I could only infer by the roar of the 
river beneath, which sounded very deep indeed, so that had the 
poor fellow missed his hold, or taken one roll, his doom was cer- 
tain. In an emergency how rapidly one can think ! There was no 
help within many miles, and a very few minutes would decide his 
fate. I had sold his worthy predecessor, when rather hard pressed 
for cash, and had paid only forty dollars for him ; but he looked 
very valuable as he hung on that precipice, and I imagined to 
myself what could I do without him there in that wilderness, with 
such a journey before me, and I alone ; the night, too, falling fast. 
I felt for the poor creature, and I pitied myself, for I could ill 
afford to lose him, particularly there and then. To get him 
straight up would have required twenty men's strength. No time 
was to be lost. I feared every moment that he would begin to 
struggle, and then I must be prepared to know how long I dare 
hold on, and what instant I must let him go, lest he should jerk 
me over along with himself, and both be lost. A thought struck 
me. I got his head round on one side ; he seemed to understand 
my object, and slightly shifted one foot, while I held him as fast 
as I dared by the rein. He then dug the other foot into the 
ground, and soon I had the gratification of having him right across 
the hill, and then by a little maneuvering I moved him, step by 
step, till I got him up. He was not much hurt, and after a little 
while I mounted, but had not proceeded half a mile when he trod 
on another soft edge. I felt him stagger, and had just time to free 
my right foot from the stirrup, and pitch off into the mud of the 
road, as he went over the bank. There I hung, half-way on the 
path, my legs dangling over the margin. Having scrambled up, I 
saw that he had dropped down about twelve feet, on a heap of 



LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS. 285 

sharp stones, and on going down to him I found his hind shoes 
torn off, and he lamed and much injured. I managed to get him 
up again to the path ; but, alas ! he was now worse than no horse 
at all. Seven long niiles of that narrow and dangerous road lay 
between me and the dak Bungalow, and he could not walk a 
step only as I dragged him along. The night soon fled, and he 
failed fast. Never in all my life have I felt any thing so lonely as 
was that weary walk through those dark woods and over those 
high mountains. The keen remembrance of it will go with me to 
the grave. The poor animal had some of the stumps of the nails 
in his hoofs, which every step seemed to drive higher as he trod 
on the stony path, until at last it was real misery to look at him as 
he slowly and painfully limped along. What to do I could not tell ; 
he was getting worse every step. To abandon him seemed cruel, and 
yet to stay with him, without even the means of lighting a fire, was 
to expose myself to equal danger. I had no alternative but to bring 
him along as well as I could ; so I pulled him on over the rocks and 
streams, and up the hills, till I became utterly spent. The sohtude 
around was something dreadful — no sound save the occasional 
yells of the wild animals — and I was obliged to keep a sharp look- 
out lest we should be pounced upon by a tiger. I had my gun on 
my shoulder, but the only charge I had with me was in it, so that one 
shot was my whole dependence in that line. Another element of 
anxiety was the fact that at the cross paths there were no sign- 
boards, and painful indeed was the suspense sometimes felt as to 
which road to take, or whether I was on the right path at all. 
Many an earnest prayer I put up to God at some of these doubtful 
points that He would in mercy guide me aright. The heat in the 
woods and valleys was great, and this, added to my exertions, 
caused so much perspiration that it fast exhausted my remaining 
strength, till at last I had to sit down and calculate what was to be 
done. I was also faint from hunger, having only had a light and 
very early breakfast, and neither dinner nor supper. My tongue 
swelled, and seemed to fill my mouth. As I sat there and thought 

of all I had given up for India, perhaps it was pardonable that, for 
19 



286 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

a moment, I indulged a longing for the peace and privileges of the 
happy land I had left ; but it was only for a moment, and all was 
right again. I felt I was just where I would like best to be, though 
for the present these trials seemed hard to bear. It was an hour of 
unusual experience, and the depression was correspondent to it. 
The hunger, the darkness, the surrounding danger, the heat and 
laborious exertion, with the uncertainty of my whereabouts, and 
the probable distance of any help, all together constituted such a 
drain on my strength, and hope, and fortitude, as I never before 
endured. To complete my calamities, both my boots had given 
way on the stony paths, and my feet were wet as well as sore. 

As I was looking round for a tree in which I might spend the 
night, out of the reach of the animals, (for I felt as if I could go no 
farther,) I recollected Brother Stevens and " Old Jeddy," and the 
"rest at home" that cheered him on that eventful night in the wil- 
derness. I lifted up my heart to God and asked for strength foi 
body and for soul ; and there, in the midst of my gloom and soli- 
tude, I was cheered by the presence of my heavenly Father. A 
train of delightful reflections set in. I thought of my own deep 
indebtedness to the Divine mercy ; I thought of our Church, and 
the glorious work that God had spread before her ; and I thought 
of my own mission, and of that future day when it would spread 
among these degraded multitudes, and when they would love the 
Redeemer as I loved him then ! How these thoughts and feelings 
braced up my soul for life and duty ! Exhaustion was forgotten, 
and my full heart gushed out in strong affection toward the blessed 
Jesus, until I felt ready to bear any thing for his dear sake. I felt 
it easy to come to the conclusion that my state, with all its weari- 
ness, was one that I would not exchange with any of the votaries 
of this world's pleasure or ease. I rose to my feet, and these words 
came from the depths of my heart, and went up on the night air to 
heaven : 

" In a dry land, behold I place 

My whole desire on thee, O Lord; 
And more I joy to gain thy grace 

Than all earth's treasures can afford." 



WE BEACH ALMOBAH. 287 

Shortly after, when dimbing round the spur of one of the 
mountains, the dense clouds separated and exposed to view right 
before me the "Snowy Range" towering up so majestically to the 
skies ! The full moon was shining upon it, and imparting to it 
that purple tint which makes it look so lovely and so unearthly ! 
It was the grandest natural sight I ever beheld, and to me was brill- 
iantly suggestive of that " land of rest," where the sun shall no 
more go down, neither shall the moon withdraw itself; but the 
Lord shall be unto us an everlasting light, and the days of our 
mourning shall be ended ! 

I resumed my weary way, our pace being now about one mile an 
hour, and at nearly eleven o'clock came to the summit of a high 
mountain, where there seemed to be two paths, which increased 
my perplexity ; but on looking off to the right I could make out 
that the hills rounded into a crescent, on the far point of which I 
discovered a light, which I knew must be from the window of the 
dak Bungalow ! After all my anxiety I had been guided in safety 
by a way I knew not. On reaching the Bungalow, I found that 
neither bed nor food was to be had. However, I was too tired to 
care much for food, so the privation was little felt. I could have 
relished a comfortable bed had it been available, but the floor 
and shelter of a roof were mercies. The ladies had safely and 
duly arrived, and were stretched, some on the ground and others 
on charpoys, and thus the night wore over. 

Next morning there was no sign of the coolies, so we resumed 
our march, my poor horse being obliged to remain where he was, 
and by evening we were overtaken at the next Bungalow by our 
bedding and food, both of which were very welcome indeed. We 
arrived at Almorah next day, tired enough, and were accommodated 
with a couple of rooms in a little house near the fort. Some of 
our friends would smile could they see the humble accommodations, 
for which we felt no small amount of gratitude. The floor was of 
clay ; we had two camp tables, three chairs, and two charpoys — 
that was the extent of our furniture ! But " necessity is the mother 
of invention," and we soon found out that a trunk lid could be 



288 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

made into a table, and that a child can sleep as well in a basket or 
in an old box as on a mahogany bedstead. So our " picnic " fashion 
of life in Almorah gave us little concern, any inconveniences being 
amply balanced by the reflection that thirty miles more of mount- 
ains lay between our precious charge and danger. 

Our worthy Commissioner, after a time, unable to endure longer 
this "hunger for news" that was consuming us, organized a post 
department of his own, and by relays of Paharees, stretching along 
the crest of the Himalayas, for what is usually seventeen days' jour- 
ney to Mussoorie, above Dehra Doon, managed to reach on to 
beyond the immediate circle of Sepoy power and establish commu- 
nication with the Europeans there, who were able to correspond 
with the Punjab, and obtain such news as was available from that 
quarter. 

Information of our whereabouts and safety now got abroad, and 
worked its way around by the sea-coast to Calcutta. The 13th of 
August was a Joyful day. To our delight and astonishment, the 
Paharee postman that morning brought us three numbers of the 
Christian Advocate, and three of Zioii s Herald, for the month of 
April ! The postmaster at Bombay had found us out, and com- 
menced sending us a mail whenever he had the chance, via Kur- 
rachee, Lahore, and Mussoorie. So we now began to receive 
papers and letters with more or less regularity. Only those who 
have been, as we were, shut up for three months and a half without 
a letter or a paper or a word from home, can imagine the joy with 
which we grasped the precious documents, and sat down to devour 
their contents. It was almost like life from the dead ! 

But, while grateful for news at last, what horrible accounts of 
massacre and pillage poured in upon us— frightful details of what 
had occurred ! How truly we realized, as we heard or read them^ 
the reality of the lines — 

" My ear is pained, 
My soul is sick, with every day's report 
Of wrong and outrage." 

At our family altar, and in our closet, our cry was, " O Lord, how 
long " Nor was the suffering and wretchedness limited to the 



THE FEARFUL STATE OF THINGS BEFORE DELHI. 289 

Europeans. The feuds between the Hindoos and Mohammedans 
were revived, and conflicts between them increased in bitterness 
and cruelty, until the country became one scene of anarchy. 
Trade, agriculture, and industry in general were all but suspended ; 
any one that had a rupee to lose lost it ; riot and bloodshed became 
the order of the day, while rapine and murder were openly carriea 
on by the Goojurs, a Gipsy-like class of vagabonds, whom the mis- 
erable Mohammedan Government was unable to put down. 

Short as our time was in Bareilly, I have the satisfaction of 
knowing that our labors were not altogether fruitless. Several of 
the Europeans who attended our little English service had spoken 
in grateful terms of the benefits received under the preaching. 
Among these was the excellent Dr. Bowhill, Surgeon of the Sixty- 
eighth Native Infantry. This gentleman had a very narrow escape 
for his life on the day of the massacre. His horse carried him only 
about twenty miles, and then fell dead lame. The remainder of the 
seventy-four miles he had to walk (with a very occasional lift on the 
horses of others of the party) under a broiling sun. I went to meet 
and congratulate him on his escape. We kneeled down together, 
and never shall I forget his emotions while I offered up to the serv- 
ice of the Holy Trinity the life that had been so mercifully pre- 
served ! It was a privilege to have made the friendship of such a 
man ; and not only so, but also to have had that friendship 
cemented by the holiest ties. His sense of duty led him, as soon 
as the Commissioner arranged the letter post along the Himalayas, 
to venture to cross to Mussoorie and thence to Kurnal, and then 
join any passing column, so as to reach the little English array 
before Delhi, where his professional services were so much required. 
The brave man made his perilous way in safety, and we heard occa- 
sionally from him. In reply to a letter which I had written, 
expressing my gratitude for great professional kindness, especially 
at Nynee Tal, and adding a word or two to " strengthen his hands 
in God," he says : " I do not feel that I am in any way entitled to 
the thanks you give for my attendance on your family. Inasmuch 
as the soul is more worthy than the body, so much the more are 



290 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

my thanks due to you ; for, under Providence, I have to thank you 
for teaching me to love God. I feared him before I knew you, and 
that fear restrained me. Now I feel that, through your means, I 
love my Saviour and Redeemer, and try to obey because I love 
him." What must have been then the condition of things before 
Delhi may be understood by the Doctor's statement, when he adds 
in this communication, that " Such is the amount of sickness which 
prevails, that twenty-five hundred of our men are in hospital, two 
hundred and forty-one of whom entered in one day. In my own 
regiment of five hundred men two hundred and forty-seven are 
lying sick ! I fear that if the assault does not take place sooti we 
shall not have men enough in health to attempt it. May God save 
us from a reverse before Delhi ! The effect of a repulse here 
might be ruinous throughout the whole country," How earnestly 
we prayed for the brave men in that little army who were thus 
suffering and fighting for us there ! 

Just then we had a little battle of our own to go through. On 
the Thursday after the receipt of this letter from Delhi, Khan 
Bahadur ordered his forces to assault our position. They moved 
up nearer to our defenses and encamped for the night, perhaps not 
realizing, being all " plains men," how chilly they would feel the 
next morning in the cold hill air. Our Commandant saw his 
advantage, and very early next morning dropped down into the lit- 
tle valley where they were encamped, with thirty gentlemen and 
the twenty-five faithful Sowars, making a little body of cavalry ; 
these, with the two hundred and fifty of our Ghoorka (hill) troops, 
came quietly upon them before they had unrolled themselves out 
of their blankets, and a fearful carnage ensued. In an hour all was 
over. The Sepoys fled in every direction, leaving one hundred and 
fourteen of their number dead, besides what wounded they man- 
aged to carry off. 

After counting the enemy's dead, our men turned to ascertain 
their own loss, and, to their surprise and gratitude, found that they 
had only one man — a Sowar (native horseman) — killed, and two 
Gboorkas wounded. One officer, Captain Gibbency, was slightly 



OUR LITTLE FIOHT. 29 1 

touched by a pistol ball, and this was all. The effect of this con- 
test was of great importance. It struck some terror into the Sepoy 
mind, and they refused ever after to come up into our glens again ; 
It raised our spirits, and had an immense effect upon the hill peo- 
ple, who of course flattered themselves that the victory was due to 
their own prowess. It also deepened their hatred of the Moham- 
medan party ; while below, the Hindoo villagers took courage to 
help the Commandant, and actually captured nine rebels, stragglers 
who had turned to the work of plundering the villagers and abusing 
their women. They were brought up to Nynee Tal, tried, and exe- 
cuted at once. I was informed that they met their doom with the 
indifference that characterizes Mohammedan fatalists. 

After this event some of the villagers and Hindoo Zemindars 
(landholders) of the plains around our hills sent up deputations 
to our Commandant, requesting him to assist them against the 
Mohammedans, and offering to pay their jumma (revenue) to him 
if he would only sustain them (as they thought him now able to do) 
against the rebel Government. But Major Ramsay was too pru- 
dent to go beyond his safe line, especially as he well knew he was 
stijl closely watched by a powerful and wily foe, and must risk 
nothing while he had ladies to protect. That foe, however, was 
beginning to feel certain qualms of anxiety, for already Havelock's 
name and the story of his victories were flying over the land, and 
they felt that he, or some other English General, might ere long 
give them a better opportunity to prove their courage than what 
they had when they so leisurely and safely cut down and butchered 
unarmed men and defenseless women and children. 

It was " a day of rebuke and blasphemy," but I still believed that 
our redemption was drawing nigh, and that all would be overruled 
for good. How grateful I feel that my letter to the Corresponding 
Secretary, written at this time, closes with the following words, 
now measurably in process of fulfillment : 

" One sentence in closing. Believe me, this is one of the last 
terrible efforts of hell to retain its relaxing grasp on beautiful 
India, and the issue will be salvation for her millions . . . 



292 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Don't be discouraged for us. If the sufferings abound, so do the 
consolations. But if I am cut off, (which is not improbable,) 
remember my mission and sustain it. Farewell, Doctor. Again 
let me beseech you, whether I live or die, remember my mission 
and sustain it. For India is to be Redeemed ! " 



AMERICAN MI8ST0NABIE8 WHO FELL AT CAWNPORE. 293 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE CAWNPORE MASSACRE AND THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. 

"I T JillLE we were thus maintaining, as best we could, our 
* ^ position against fearful odds, and hoping for that relief 
which had yet, for the reasons following, to be so much longer 
delayed, our fellow Christians down in the plains below us were 
passing through sorrows and agonies in the presence of which our 
trials were not worthy to be mentioned, and the accounts of which 
were about to fill the civilized world with horror. 

With a sad heart we tell the story of Cawnpore — the " city of 
melancholy fame" — and present to our readers that wonderful 
record of fruitless valor and unutterable woe which was there exhib- 
ited. Fourteen years have passed over since these deeds were done, 
but the fearful record of them will be read with deepest interest by 
Christian men and women long after the present generation has 
passed away. This story can never die. Wherever and whenever 
read, it should be remembered that England alone did not suffer 
there. The dire agony of Cawnpore was shared by American gen- 
tlemen and ladies ; indeed, they took precedence in these sorrows, 
for the group first "led as sheep to the slaughter," before the mur- 
der of those from the intrenchment was perpetrated, included the 
Rev. Messrs. Freeman, Johnson, M'Mullin, and Campbell, with 
their dear wives and children, from Futtyghur — the very next sta- 
tion to the one then occupied by the writer, who, with his family, 
had to conclude whether to accept the invitation to join this party, 
and attempt escape by the Ganges, or else "flee to the mountains" 
on the north. He decided for the latter, and thus narrowly escaped 
the fate which befell these brethren and sisters, whom he had 
already learned to esteem so highly for their own and for their 
work's sake, 



294 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Of few of "the martyrs of Jesus" in any age may it more truly 
be said than of them, "These are they which came out of great 
tribulation" The sharp agony of that hour is ended, and they 
have met again where He who loved them has long since wiped 
away all tears from their eyes. The American Presbyterian Church, 
to which they belonged, should nobly press on the work for which 
they died, and be earnest to reap the harvest made so fertile with 
their blood. 

"The massacre of Cawnpore" has been truly called "the black- 
est crime in human history." Every element of perfidy and cruelty 
was concentrated in it. No act ever carried to so many hearts 
such a thrill of horror as did the deed that was done there on the 
15th of July, 1857. Yet no complete account of it has been laid 
before the American public. To supply this deficiency, so far as 
our space allows, is the aim of these pages. Our authorities are 
the best : Trevelyan, (of whose excellent work we make free use,) 
with Thomson, Bourchier, The Friend of India, and the Calcutta 
Quarterly Review, together with the personal communications of 
Havelock's soldiers ; while photographs, taken on the spot, enable 
us accurately to present "the Well" into which the ladies were 
thrown, and the beautiful monument which a weeping country has 
placed over their remains. 

The city of Cawnpore is situated on the banks of the Ganges, 
six hundred and twenty-eight miles from Calcutta, and two hun- 
dred and sixty-six miles from Delhi. At the time of the great 
Rebellion, the English general commanding the station was Sir 
Hugh Wheeler. He had under his command four Sepoy regi- 
ments, and about three hundred English soldiers. In addition to 
these, there were the wives and children of the English officers and 
of his own force, and of the force at Lucknow. Oude having been 
but recently annexed, the families of the officers in Lucknow could 
not yet obtain houses there, and so were left for the present under 
the care of Sir Hugh Wheeler at Cawnpore. When the alarm began 
to extend, the ladies and children of the stations around also went 
to him for protection, so that, before the rebellion broke out. the 



THE CONDITION OF MATTERS AT GAWNPOBE. 295 

General found himself responsible for the care of over five hundred 
and sixty women and children, with only three hundred English 
soldiers and about one hundred and forty other Europeans, for 
their protection. 

Sir Hugh had been over fifty years in India. His age and his 
confidence in the loyalty of the Sepoys under his command ill-fitted 
him for the position he then held. He would not credit the immi- 
nence of the danger, nor make that provision against it which some 
of those under his orders believed to be urgently necessary. He 
still trusted the loyalty of the Nana Sahib, and placed the Govern- 
ment treasure — an immense sum of money — under his care ; and 
there was even a proposal to send the ladies and children off to the 
Bithoor palace for safe-keeping. There was a strong magazine on 
the banks of the Ganges, well provided with munitions of war and 
with suitable shelter, to which Sir Hugh might have taken his 
charge, and where, it is believed, he could have held out till relief 
reached him ; but unfortunately he thought otherwise, believing 
himself not strong enough to hold it. So he crossed the canal and 
took a position on the open plain, in two large, one-story barracks, 
and threw up a low earth-work around it, and thought himself 
secure till assistance could reach him from Calcutta. He did not 
take the precaution to provision even this place properly or in time, 
and also left the strong intrenchment on the Ganges stored with 
artillery of all sizes, and with shot and shell to match, with thirty 
boats full of ammunition moored at the landing-place — left all to 
fall into the hands of his enemies ; and it was actually used, pro- 
fusely used, against himself in the terrible days that followed. The 
few cannon which he took with him were no match for those he 
left behind, and which he had afterward to fight so fiercely and at 
such disadvantage. 

On the 14th of May intelligence reached them of the fearful 
massacres of Meerut and Delhi. On the 5th of June the Cawnpcre 
Sepoys broke into open mutiny, having been joined by other regi- 
ments from Oude. The Nana Sahib had been in intimate com- 
munication with the ringleaders ; yet for some reason or other, 



296 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

probably a disinclination to murder their officers or to face the few 
English soldiers there, the Sepoys seemed more inclined to leave 
the station and march for Delhi than to remain and attack the 
English They actually started, performed the first stage, and 
encamped at a place called Kullianpore. The wily Azeemoolah 
and his master now saw that their hour had come. Arriving in the 
camp, they persuaded the Sepoy host to return to Cawnpore and 
put all the English to the sword before they left the place. Their 
unwillingness was overcome by the promise of unlimited pillage, 
and the offer by the Maharajah of a gold anklet to each Sepoy. 
They retraced their steps. That night the English officers were, 
some of them, sleeping in their own houses, imagining that they 
had seen the last of that Sepoy army. But early the next morning 
the Nana announced his intention to commence the attack at once, 
and there was barely time to summon the officers and families 
outside ere it began. Every thing of value, clothing and stores of 
all kinds, had to be suddenly abandoned. He who in that close 
and sultry night of midsummer had sought a little air and sleep on 
his house-top might not stay " to take any thing out of his house ;" 
he who had been on early service in the field might not " turn back 
to take his clothes." Few and happy were they who had time to 
snatch a single change of raiment. Some lost their lives by wait- 
ing to dress. So that, half-clad, confused, and breathless, the 
devoted band rushed into the breastwork, which they entered only 
to suffer, and left only to die. 

Within this miserable inclosure, containing two barracks de- 
signed for only one hundred men each, and surrounded by a mud 
wall only four feet high, three feet in thickness at the base, and but 
twelve inches at the top — where the batteries were constructed by 
the simple expedient of leaving an aperture lor each gun, so that 
the artillery-men served their pieces as in the field, with their per- 
sons entirely exposed to the fire of the enemy — within this inclo- 
sure were huddled together a thousand people, only four hundred 
and forty of whom were men, the rest being women and children. 
Here, without any thing that could be called shelter, without proper 



TEE OPENING OF THE AGONY. 297 

provisions for a single week, exposed to the raging sun by day and 
to the iron hail of death by day and night, these Christian people 
had to endure for twenty-two days the pitiless bombardment, the 
rifle-shots, and storming-parties, launched at them from a well- 
appointed army of nearly ten thousand men. 

How well those four hundred and forty men must have fought, 
when, with closed teeth and bated breath, the Brahmin and the 
Saxon* thus closed for their death grapple, where no quarter was 
asked or received, may be imagined. But who can imagine the 
terror and the sufferings of that crowd of five hundred and sixty 
ladies and children, not one of whom could be saved, even by all 
the valor of those brave men who fought so hard and died so rap- 
idly to protect them ! Of the whole number, only three men es- 
caped—Captain Delafosse, Major Thompson, and Private Murphy. 
America and Europe have ever forbidden their warriors to pcint 
the sword at a female breast But Asiatics have no such scruples. 
The Hindoos, who allow their women few or no personal rights, 
and the Mohammedans, who doubt if they have souls, have no ten- 
derness for the position or treatment of the weaker sex. The 
sharp-shooters and gunners of the Nana Sahib were true to their 
heathenism. They gave no rest, and showed no mercy. Some 
ladies were slain outright by grape or round shot, others by the 
bullet : many were crushed by the splinters or the falling walls. 
At first every projectile that struck the barracks, where they were 
crowded together, was the signal for heart-rending shrieks, and low 
waihng, more heart-rending still ; but ere long time and habit had 
taught them to suffer and to fear in silence. The unequal contest 
could not last long. By the end of the first week every one of the 
professional artillery-men had been killed or wounded, besides those 
who had fallen all around the position. Sun-stroke had dazed and 
killed several. Their only howitzer was knocked clear off its car- 
riage, and the other cannon disabled, save two pieces which were 
withdrawn under cover, loaded with grape, and reserved for the 
purpose of repelling an assault. Even the bore of these had been 
injured so that a canister could not be driven home, and the poor 



298 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

ladies gave up their stockings to supply the case for a novel, but 
not unserviceable, cartridge. As their fire became more faint, that 
of the enemy augmented in volume, rapidity, and precision — casual- 
ties mounted up fearfully, and at length their misfortunes culminated 
in a wholesale disaster. One of the two barracks had a thatched 
roof In this, as more roomy, were collected the sick, and wounded, 
and women. On the evening of the eighth day of the bombard- 
ment the enemy succeeded in lodging a lighted "carcase" on the 
roof, and the whole building was speedily in a blaze. No effort 
was spared or risk shunned to rescue the helpless inmates ; but, in 
spite of all, two brave men were burned to death. During that 
night of horror the artillery and marksmen of the enemy, aided by 
the light of the burning building, poured their cruel fire on the 
busy men who were trying to save the provisions and ammunition, 
and living burdens more precious still, out of the fire, while the 
guards, crouching silent and watchful, finger on trigger, each at his 
station behind the outer wall, could see the countless foes, revealed 
now and again by the glare, prowling and yelling around the outer 
gloom like so many demons eager for their prey. 

The misery fell chiefly on the ladies : they were now obliged to 
pass their days and nights in a temperature varying from one hun- 
dred and twenty to one hundred and thirty-eight degrees, cowering 
beneath such shelter as the low earth-work could give — and all this 
to women who had been brought up in the lap of luxury, and who 
had never till now known a moment of physical privation. There 
were but two wells within reach ; one of these had been used to 
receive their dead — for they could not bury them — the other was 
so trained upon day and night by the shell of the enemy that at 
last it became the certain risk of death to remain long enough to 
draw up, from a depth of over sixty feet, a bucket of water for the 
parched women and children. Yet necessity compelled that risk, 
while it made the sip of water rare and priceless, but left none to 
wash their persons or their wounds. A short gill of flour and a 
handful of split peas was now their daily sustenance. The medical 
stores had been all destroyed in the conflagration —there remained 



A SORROW WITHOUT A PARALLEL. 299 

no drugs, or cordials, or opiates to cure or alleviate. The bandages 
for the newly wounded were supplied off the persons of the ladies, 
who nobly parted with their clothing for this purpose, till many of 
them had barely enough left to screen their persons. And to this 
condition were these once beautiful women reduced — herded to- 
gether in fetid misery, where delicacy and modesty were hourly 
shocked, though never for a moment impaired. Bare-footed and 
ragged, haggard and emaciated, parched with drought and faint 
with hunger, they sat watching to hear that they were widows. 
Each morning deepened the hollow in the youngest cheek, and 
added a new furrow to the fairest brow. Want, exposure, and 
depression speedily decimated that hapless company, while a hide- 
ous train of diseases — fever, apoplexy, insanity, cholera, and dysen- 
tery — began to add their horrors to the dreadful and unparalleled 
scene. Alas ! even this does not by any means exhaust the list of 
terrors, but we can go no further. American ladies will add their 
generous tears to those which have been flowing for their sorrows 
in many an English home during the past few years. 

They tried hard to communicate with the outside world — with 
Lucknow or Allahabad — for they had a few faithful natives who 
ventured forth for them ; but so close were the cavalry pickets 
around their position that only one person ever returned to them. 
These spies were barbarously used. The writer saw some of them 
after the Rebellion in their mutilated state — their hands cut off, or 
their noses split open ; and one poor fellow had lost hands, nose, 
and ears. The native mode of mutilation was horribly painful, the 
limb being sometimes chopped off with a tulwar — a coarse sword 
— and the stump dipped in boiling oil to arrest the bleeding. 

Events had now reached their dire extremity. The sweetness 
of existence had vanished, and the last flicker of hope had died 
away. Yet, moved by a generous despair and an invincible self- 
respect, they still fought on for dear life, and for lives dearer than 
their own. By daring, and vigilance, and unparalleled endurance, 
these brave and suffering men staved off ruin for another day, and 
yet another. Long had their eyes and ears strained in the directior 



300 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

of Allahabad, hoping for the succor that was never to reach them, 
The 23d of June dawned — the anniversary of the battle of Plassey. 
The Nana Sahib had vowed to celebrate that centenary of the 
rise of the English power in its utter overthrow ; the Sepoys had 
sworn by the most solemn oath of their religion to conquer or per- 
ish on that day. Early in the morning the whole force was moved 
to the assault ; the guns were brought up within a few hundred 
yards of the wall ; the infantry in dense array advanced, their skir- 
mishers rolling before them great bales of cotton, proof against the 
bullets of the besieged, while the cavalry charged at a gallop in 
another quarter. It was all in vain. The contest was short but 
sharp. The teams which drew the artillery were shot down, the 
bales were fired, the sharp-shooters driven back on their columns, 
and the saddles of the cavalry were emptied as they came on. 
The Sepoy host reeled before the dreadful resistance and fell back 
discouraged — nor could they be induced to renew the effort. That 
evening a party of them drew near the position, made obeisance 
after their fashion, and asked leave to remove their dead. This 
acknowledgment of an empty triumph was a poor consolation to 
these gaunt and starving Englishmen, under the shadow of the 
impending doom of themselves and those whom they so well 
defended. 

The result of this day's conflict produced a sudden change in 
the plans of the Nana Sahib. He began to despair of taking the 
position by storm, and events were forbidding him to wait for the 
slower process of starvation. The Sepoys were already grum- 
bling, and another repulse would set them conspiring. The 
usurper saw he must bring matters to a speedy conclusion ; for, 
in addition to Sepoy discontent, rumors had already reached him 
of an avenging force having left Benares to save those whom he 
had resolved to destroy. He had not a day to lose. It behooved 
the monster to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion by any 
means, even the very foulest, as all others had failed. He there- 
fore resolved to insnare where he could not vanquish — to lure those 
Christians from the shelter of that wall within which no intruder 



NANA SAHIB'S INFERNAL TBEAC^EBY. 301 

had set his foot and lived. He suspended the bombardment and 
opened negotiations. The world had never yet heard of treachery 
so hellish as what he meditated then. Though some of the ladies 
had their fears, yet none imagined the purpose which was in the 
depths of the dark hearts of this man and his minion Azeemoolah, 
Admiration of the defense was expressed, and sympathy for the 
condition of the ladies still living, with the offer of boats provis- 
ioned, and a safe conduct under the Nana's hand to take them to 
Allahabad. The terms of the conference were committed to paper, 
and borne, by Azeemoolah, to the Nana for his signature ; all was 
made seemingly right and safe for the capitulation. The boats 
were actually moored at the landing-place and provisions put on 
board, and the whole shown to the committee of English officers. 
That night they could obtain water, and deep were the draughts 
of the blessed beverage which they imbibed ; they could also sleep, 
for the bombardment had ceased, though a cloud of cavalry held 
watch around their position. They slept sounder the next night, 
as the Nana intended that they should. 

Some criticisms have been made upon their agreement to sur- 
render at all. It may be answered, that had that garrison con- 
sisted only of fighting men, no one would have dreamed of sur- 
render. But what could be done when more than half their 
number, male and female, had already been killed, and the balance 
was a mixed multitude, in which there was a woman and child to 
each man, while every other man was incapacitated by wounds or 
disease, with only four days more of half rations of their miserable 
subsistence, and the monsoon — the tropical rains — hourly ex- 
pected to open upon them in all its violence .'' The only choice 
was between death and capitulation ; and if the latter was resolved 
on it was well that the offer came from the enemy. 

Eleven o'clock next morning, June 27th, came. Every thing 

was ready ; all Cawnpore was astir, crowding by thousands to the 

landing-place. The doomed garrison had taken their last look at 

their premises and at the well, into which so many of their number 

had been lowered during the past three weeks. The writer has 
20 



302 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

walked over the same ground, between their intrenchment and the 
landing-place, wondering with what feelings that ragged and spirit- 
less cavalcade must have passed over that space that day. But 
they had at least this consolation — they thought that their miseries 
were ending, and that they were going toward home, with all its 
blessed associations. They moved on, reached the wooden bridge, 
and turned into the fatal ravine which led to the water's edge. 
Two dozen large boats, each covered with a frame and heavy 
thatch, to screen the sun, were ready ; but it was observed that, 
instead of floating, they had been drawn into the shallows, and 
were resting on the sand. The vast multitude, speechless and 
motionless as specters, watched their descent into that " valley of 
the shadow of death." The men in front began to lift the wounded 
and the ladies into the boats, and prepared for shoving them off, 
when, amid that sinister silence, the blast of a bugle at the other 
end of the ravine, as the last straggler entered within the fatal 
trap, gave the Nana Sahib's signal, and the masked battery, which 
Azeemoolah had spent his night preparing, opened with grape 
upon the confused mass. The boatmen who were to row them 
thrust the ready burning charcoal into the thatch, plunged over- 
board, and made for the shore, and, almost in a moment, the entire 
fleet was in a blaze of fire. Five hundred marksmen sprang up 
among the trees and temples, and began to pour their deadly bul- 
lets in upon them, while the cavalry along the river brink were 
ready for any who attempted to swim the Ganges. Only four men 
made good their escape — two officers and two privates, one of 
whom soon afterward sank under his sufferings — and they owed 
their lives to their ability in swimming and diving, and were in- 
debted for their ultimate safety to the humanity of a noble Hindoo, 
Dirigbijah Singh, of Oude. The Nana Sahib was pacing before 
his tent, waiting for the news. A trooper was dispatched to in- 
form him that all was going on well, and that the Peishwa would 
soon have ample vengeance for his ancient wrong. He bade the 
courier return to the scene of action, bearing the verbal order to 
" keep the women alive, and kill all the males." Accordingly the 



RESERVES THE LADIES FOR ANOTHER DOOM. 305 

women and children whom the shot had missed and the flames 
spared, were collected and brought to land. Many of them were 
dragged from under the charred woodwork, or out of the water 
beside the boats. Some of the ladies were roughly handled by the 
troopers, who, while collecting them, tore away such ornaments as 
caught their fancy, with Httle consideration for ear or finger. 
Their defenders were all soon murdered, and lay in mutilation on 
the banks or in the boats, or floated away with the stream. The 
ladies were taken back along the road, through a surging crowd of 
Sepoys and towns-people, till the procession halted opposite the 
pavilion of the Maharajah, who, after receiving his wretched cap- 
tives, ordered them removed to a small building north of the canal, 
which was to be the scene of their final sufferings on the 15th of 
the following month. We present a sketch of this place, known 
afterward as the " House of the Massacre." 

It comprised two principal rooms, each twenty feet by ten, with 
three or four windowless closets, and behind the building was an 
open court, about fifteen yards square, surrounded by a high wall. 
Guarded by Sepoys, within these limits, during nineteen days of 
tropical heat, were penned up together these two hundred and one 
ladies and children and five men — two hundred and six persons in 
all — awaiting their doom from the lips of a monster. Their food 
during those terrible days was very coarse and scanty indeed ; and, 
to add to it the keenest indignity that an Oriental could give, it 
was cooked for them by the Methers, (scavengers.) They lay on 
the bare ground, and were closely watched day and night. " The 
Well," into which he had their mangled bodies thrown, is shown on 
the left side of the picture. 

That evening the Nana Sahib held a State review in honor of his 
" victory," ordered a general illumination of the city of Cawnpore, 
and posted the Proclamation already quoted, in which he called 
upon the people to "rejoice at the delightful intelligence that 
Cawnpore has been conquered, and the Christians have been sent 
to hell, and both the Hindoo and Mohammedan religions have been 
confirmed." 



306 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

The Maharajah at length enjoyed the compUment he had so long 
coveted, and was so long denied — at the review he was greeted 
with the full sura of twenty-one guns, his nephew and two brothers 
receiving seventeen each. He wore his royal honors for seventeen 
days and no more. Distributing ^50,000 among the mutineers, he 
returned in state to his Cawnpore residence. This was a hotel 
kept by a Mohammedan, and in which the writer slept when in the 
place a few months previously. The Nana took possession of these 
premises, which were about seventy-five paces from the house here 
shown, where the poor ladies were confined. Here he lived from 
day to day in a perpetual round of sensuality, amid a choice coterie 
of priests, panderers, ministers, and minions. The reigning beauty 
of the fortnight was one Oula or Adala. She was the Thais on 
whose breast sank the vanquished victor, oppressed with brandy and 
such love as animates a middle-aged Eastern debauchee. She is 
said to have counted by hundreds of thousands the rupees which 
were lavished upon her by the affection or vanity of her Alexander. 

Every night there was an entertainment of music, dancing, and 
pantomime, the latter being some caricature of English habits. 
The noise of this revelry was plainly audible to the captives in the 
adjoining house ; and as they crowded round the windows to catch 
a breath of the cool night air, the glare of the torches and the 
strains of the barbarous melody might remind them of the period 
when he who was now the center of that noisy throng thought him- 
self privileged if he could induce them to honor him with their 
acceptance of the hospitality of Bithoor. To such reality of woe 
were they reduced ! Heat, hardship, wounds, and want of space 
and proper nourishment were beginning to release some from their 
bondage before the season marked out by Azeemoolah for a jail 
delivery such as the world never witnessed before. A sentence of 
relief may be added here, as rumors contrary to the fact have been 
circulated : Trevelyan, whom we have so freely copied, declares that 
the evidence shows that these ladies died without mention, and we 
may hope without apprehension, of dishonor. 

The hour of retribution dawned at length ! Outraged civiliza- 



THE MASSACRE OF THE LADIES. 30? 

tion was coming with a vengeance to punish the guilty, and to save 
this remnant if it were possible. General Havelock and his brave 
little brigade were on their way, making forced marches daily. 
The Nana roused himself to meet the danger. He had forwarded 
armies to resist their approach, but twice his forces were hurled back, 
bringing to him the news of their disaster. Reserving his own 
sacred person for the supreme venture, he now ordered his whole 
army to be got ready. But before setting out he took advice as to 
what was best to be done with the captives. It was seen that dead 
men or women tell no tales and give no evidence, and this was 
important in case of a reverse ; while he also reasoned that, as 
the British were approaching solely for the purpose of releasing 
their friends, they would not risk another battle for the purpose 
merely of burying them, but would be only too glad of an excuse 
to avoid meeting the Peishwa in the field. So he and his council 
concluded. Their decision was that the ladies should die, and 
that, too, without further delay, as the army must march in the 
morning. 

We purposely omit many of the details of the horrors of that 
dreadful evening, as we have read them or heard them described 
by Havelock's men, and will try to give the result in brief terms. 
About half past four o'clock that afternoon — the 15th — the woman 
called "The Begum" informed the ladies that they were to be 
killed. But the Sepoys refused to execute the order, and there 
was a pause. Nana Sahib was not thus to be balked, even though 
the widows of Bajee Rao, his step-mothers by adoption, most ear- 
nestly remonstrated against the act. It was all in vain. The 
Nana found his agents. Five men — some of whom were butchers 
by profession — undertook the work for him. With their knives 
and swords they entered, and the door was fastened behind them. 
The shrieks and scuffling within told those without that these jour- 
neymen were executing their master's will. The evidence shows 
that it took them exactly an hour and a half to finish it ; they then 
came out again, having earned their hire. They were paid, it is 
said, one rupee (fifty cents) for each lady, or one hundred and three 



308 THE LAND OF THE YEDA. 

dollars for the whole, and were dismissed. Then a number oi 
Methers (scavengers) were called, and by the heels, or hair of their 
head, these once beautiful women and children were dragged out 
of the house and dropped down into the open well — shown on the 
left of the picture — the dying with the dead, and the children over 
all ! The well had been used for purposes of irrigation, and was 
some fifty feet deep. Next morning, when the army marched, no 
jving European remained in Cawnpore. 

Commanding in person, the Nana Sahib went forth that day to 
meet General Havelock, bent on doing something great in de- 
fense of his tottering throne. But, notwithstanding the dispar- 
ity of their numbers, he soon realized the difference between them 
and the group of invalids and civilians, whom he had brought to 
bay behind that deserted rampart, or a front rank of seated ladies 
and children and a rear rank of gentlemen, all with their hands 
strapped behind their backs, as in his first " victory," Now he 
saw before him, extending from left to right, the line of white faces, 
of red cloth, and of sparkling steel. With set teeth and flashing 
eyes, and rifles tightly grasped, closer and closer drew the meas- 
ured tramp of feet, and the heart of the foe died within him ; his 
fire grew hasty and ill-directed, and, as the last volley cut the aii 
overhead, the English, with a shout, rushed forward at their foes 
Then each rebel thought only of himself The terrible shrapnel 
and canister tore through their ranks, and they broke ere the bay- 
onet could touch them. Squadron after squadron, and battalion 
after battalion, these humbled Brahmins dropped their weapons, 
threw off their packs, and spurred and ran in wild confusion, pur- 
sued for miles by the British cavalry and artillery. At nightfall 
the Nana Sahib entered Cawnpore upon a chestnut horse drenched 
in perspiration and with bleeding flanks. On he sped toward 
Bithoor, sore and weary, his head swimming and his chest heaving. 
He had never ridden so far and fast before. It was the just ear- 
nest of that hardship which was henceforth to be his portion. Far 
otherwise had he been wont to return to that palace after a visit of 
state to the English : lolling, vmaigreite in hand, beneath the 



EVIL SHALL HUNT THE VIOLENT MAN, ETC. 309 

breath of fans, amid the cushions of a luxurious carriage, sur- 
rounded by a moving hedge of outriders and running footmen. 
Placing his harem on steeds, with some treasure and provisions, and 
with his brothers and such as chose to follow his fortunes, he 
accompanied his forces to resist General Havelock's advance on 
I.ucknow. When again defeated, for the fifth time, he fled to the 
congenial society of Khan Bahadar at Bareilly, where he made his 
last stand ; and he then, having filled to overflowing the measure of 
his guilt, passed away like a thief in the night, and left his wealth 
to the spoiler. Accompanied by his evil spirit, Azeemoolah, he 
and liis followers entered the jungles of Oude and penetrated deep 
into desolate wilds, where the malarious fever soon thinned off his 
company, and reduced the remnant to the final distress. For the 
last that is known of this man's doom we have to depend upon the 
reports of two native spies who followed him, and two of his serv- 
ants who subsequently found their way out of those Himalayan 
solitudes. Wasted and worn at last by fever and starvation to 
utter desperation, they are reported to have held a council, and con- 
cluded to put their swords each through his own women, and then 
to separate and die alone. Certainly a remnant of any of them 
has never since been seen. The Nana Sahib wore that great ruby 
which was so celebrated for its size and brilliancy. His priests 
had told him that it was an amulet which secured to him a charmed 
life. He trusted in it, no doubt, to the very last. It was probably 
in his turban when he wandered up that deep ravine to die alone ; 
and if so, there it lies to-day, for no human hand will ever pene- 
trate those pestilential jungles to gather it. The eagles of the 
Himalayas alone, as they look down from their lofty height for 
their prey, are the only creatures that will ever see the burning rays 
of that ruby, as it shines amid the rags of the vagrant who perished 
there long years ago ! 

On the 17th of July at daybreak the English army reached 
Cawnpore ; they passed the walls of the roofless barracks, pitted 
with shot and blackened with flames, and then came to "the 
Ladies' House," and, as they stood sobbing at the door, they saw 



3IO THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

what it were well could the outraged earth have hidden — the innei 
apartment was almost ankle deep in blood ! The plaster all around 
was scored with sword-cuts, not high up, as where men had fought, 
but low down, and around the corners, as if a creature had crouched 
there to avoid the blow. Fragments of dresses, large locks of hair, 
broken combs, with three or four Bibles and Prayer Books, and 
children's little shoes, were scattered around. Alas ! it was thirty- 
six hours too late ! The Well beside the House held what they had 
marched and fought so hard to save, and marched and fought in 
vain. They had to leave them as they found them ; so they filled 
up the well and leveled the earth about it. Over that well a 
weeping country has erected a graceful shrine, and has turned the 
ground around it into a fair garden, and made the whole forever 
sacred to their memory. We present views of the outside and 
inside of the shrine, engraved from photographs taken on the spot. 
Around the rim of the stone covering the well's mouth is this 
inscription : 

" Sacred to the perpetual memory of a great company of Christian 
people, chiefly women and children, cruelly massacred near this spot 

BY THE REBEL NaNA SAHIB, AND THROWN, THE DYING WITH THE DEAD, INTO 
THE WELL BENEATH ON THE XVtH DAY OF JULY, MDCCCLVII." 

Over the door outside are the words of the one hundred and forty- 
first Psalm, " Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as 
when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth." 

The garden, inclosed, planted, and made so lovely, with the 
monument in the center, is now such a contrast in its peace and 
beauty to the sorrows once endured within its limits, that one is 
reminded of the words which Havelock's men cut on the tem- 
porary monument of wood which they placed over the well : " I 
believe in the resurrection of the body." The entire premises 
have been placed by Government under the appropriate guardian- 
ship of Private Murphy — one of the three survivors of that fearful 
siege — and here he may be seen daily, accompanying visitors from 
many lands, who with sad thoughts and respectful steps approach 
the Ladies' Monument in the Memorial Garden of Cawnpore. 




'The Well" — inside view. 




The Shrine " — outside view. 



BLOWING AWAY FROM 0UN8. 313 

[t may be well here to consider for a moment the alleged severi- 
ties which some of the English soldiers and commanders inflicted 
upon those red-handed Sepoys. Who will wonder, as he thinks of 
the men that stood around the door of that " Slaughter House," (as 
it was long after called,) and who gazed upon a sight that no other 
men had ever seen, and who, as they reflected upon all they had 
themselves so vainly endured to save those whose gory memen- 
toes lay before them, causing these sun-burned soldiers to sob and 
weep like children, that such soldiers, in such circumstances, should 
have vowed vengeance against the perpetrators of this matchless 
cruelty ? Does not even humanity, in advance, require a gentle 
judgment upon their feelings and resolutions, or the retributions 
which they afterward administered ? 

One of them told me that, as they stood around the door and 
looked in, a tuft of hair, from a lady's head, floated on the con- 
gealed mass ; a comrade went in, walking on his heels to keep his 
shoes above the gore, and snatching up the handful of hair, he 
returned to them and proposed they should share it among them. 
They stood around in a circle, and divided it, taking an oath that 
they would have a Sepoy life for each hair they held ! This dread- 
ful resolution may be forgiven. General Havelock was a man of 
mercy as well as of valor, and impressed his authority upon them, 
so as to keep them from exercising this vengeance upon any save 
resisting rebels and convicted criminals. Two of his Aids, Generals 
Neill and Renaud, were more severe ; they felt it their duty to 
break the caste, as well as to take the life, of the more prominent 
murderers who fell into their hands, by requiring these Brahmin 
Sepoys to wipe up the blood which their leader had caused to 
be shed ; reminding one of the punishment inflicted by Ulysses 
in the palace of Ithaca, as related by Homer, only that the prov- 
ocation was so much greater at Cawnpore. Under any other 
civilization than Christianity, in its hour of triumph, retaliation 
would have been general and undiscriminating. The citizens of 
Cawnpore well knew that a Hindoo or Moslem army, in such an 
opportunity, and with such a deed to revenge, would have given 



314 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

them and their city to fire and sword, and have left only a ruin 
behind. 

The practice of "blowing men from guns" in India during the 
Rebellion also needs a few words of explanation. The act has been 
much misunderstood, especially in this country. I have met with 
strange assertions upon this matter, some of which assumed that 
the Sepoys were actually rammed ijtto the guns, and then fired 
out ! and too often has it been said or supposed that the act was 
perpetrated as a refinement of cruelty. Both of these opinions are 
mistaken. The mode of death in this case was, usually, to sink a 
stake in the ground, and tie the man to it ; the gun was behind him, 
from six to eight feet distant, loaded with blank cartridge, and, 
when discharged, it dissipated the man's remains. It was a quick 
and painless mode of death, for the man was annihilated, as it were, 
ere he knew that he was struck. But what the Sepoys objected to 
in it was, the dishonor done to the body, its integrity being de- 
stroyed, so that the Shraad could not be performed for them. [The 
Shraad is a funeral ceremony, which all caste Hindoos invest with 
the highest significance, as essential to their having a happy trans- 
migration ; the dissipation of the mortal remains of a man thus 
executed would necessarily render its importance impossible, and 
so expose the disembodied ghost, in their opinion, to a wandering, 
indefinite condition in the other world, which they regard as dread- 
ful ; and, to avoid this liability, when condemned to die they would 
plead, as a mercy, to be hung or shot with the musket — any mode 
— but not to be blown away. 

Knowing that this was the only procedure of which their wretched 
consciences were afraid, two of the English officers — one of them 
being General Corbett, at Lahore — threatened this mode of punish- 
ment upon Sepoy troops whom they could not otherwise restrain 
from rebelling. Corbett did, at last, execute it upon twelve of the 
ringleaders of a Sepoy regiment which, during the height of his 
anxiety for the safety of the Punjab, rose one morning and shot 
their officers, and marched for Delhi. He took two Sikh regiments 
and pursued and scattered them, bringing back these leaders for 



GENERAL COBBETT'S MOTIVE. S^S 

trial and execution. The court resolved death should be inflicted in 
this mode, as a last resort to strike terror into the other two Sepoy 
regiments, so as to restrain them from rising. And it certainly 
had that effect. From the hour of that execution till Delhi fell, not 
a single Sepoy hand was raised against an officer's Hfe or the Gov- 
einment. They saw that the man at their head would not shrink 
from violating their prejudices, even as to their Shraad, if they 
committed mutiny and murder, and they would not face that 
danger. So the Punjab was kept quiet, and we at Nynee Tal, and 
they at Simla and Delhi, (including hundreds of ladies,) were 
saved, more probably by that act of stern discipline than by any 
other event during those seven months. 

Every generous and candid heart will judge the General's action 
by his motive and the circumstances around him, as well as the 
minds on which he had to operate. He was far, as was his noble 
Governor, Sir John Lawrence, from any wish to perpetrate an 
undue severity or refinement of cruelty. He was in circumstances 
where he had reason to believe that this was the only way to arrest 
murder and mutiny, and save thousands of lives whose fate hung 
on the position of the Punjab and his measures to preserve it. 
This was equally the motive of the other General, who employed it 
as a measure of restraint as well as punishment. The act itself 
was analogous to the policy of Christian States one hundred years 
ago, in refusing what was called " The Benefit of Clergy" to certain 
notorious criminals. Lord Canning, the Governor-General, as soon 
as he heard of it, however, believing that it infringed too much 
upon the conscience of the Hindoos, forbade its repetition by any 
Commander, and it was therefore entirely abandoned. As a mode 
of punishment it was introduced into India by the French during 
their brief rule in the South. Wilkes's " History of the Mysore" 
relates its infliction, by Count Lally, in 1758, upon six Brahmins. 

The consideration of Lord Canning, however, was not recipro- 
cated by the Sepoy power itself, for in the hour of their opportu- 
nity they made no scruple whatever to employ this mode of execution 
upon other people. We have testimony that several of the Euro- 



316 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

peans who fell into the hands of the Nawab of Futtyghur and the 
Nana Sahib, were executed by being blown from guns ; and even 
the greased cartridges, to which they at first objected, when theii 
own time came, they are said to have readily used to murder 
the Europeans who fell into their hands. 

Though, unhappily, too late to save those who suffered at Cawn- 
pore, the relieving army were destined, after endurance and valor 
which received the admiration of all who ever heard of it, to reach 
and rescue the larger garrison of Lucknow, which, as the reader 
will see on the map, lies forty-three miles beyond Cawnpore. 

The Mission of the Queen of Oude in 1856 had failed, the decree 
had gone forth and was unalterable, and an English Governor ruled 
the kingdom, which became a part of British India. His official 
residence — ere long to become so famous — is shown in the picture 
on the opposite page. This building, before the annexation, was 
the home of " the Resident," or English Embassador, at the Court 
of Oude, and afterward became the house of " the Chief Commis- 
sioner," or Governor, of the kingdom, and was therefore called 
" The Residency." 

No record of human endurance exceeds that which was heie 
exhibited from June to November, 1857. "The Story of Cawn- 
pore" is, alas! more tragical; but for the great qualities of the 
heroic and the enduring, Lucknow may well challenge human his- 
tory to furnish a higher example, especially when we remember the 
number of women who were here shut up, and how nobly they bore 
themselves amid risks and sufferings which only Christian women 
of our Anglo-Saxon race could bear to the bitter end, and yet 
emerge from them all in moral triumph. Nearly a dozen volumes, 
by different hands — three of them from the pens of ladies — have 
presented the facts to the world. They abundantly show how 
nobly woman can illustrate the virtue inculcated by Virgil : 

" Do not yield to misfortunes, 
But advance to meet them with greater fortitude." 

Probably there never was such a siege as that of Lucknow. His- 
tory seems to have no parallel to it in its extraordinary circum- 




21 



THE PREPARATIONS FOR RESISTANCE. 319 

Stances, the bravery of its garrison, the privations, risks, and horrors 
to which the women were subjected, while hope was deferred, and 
England gave them up as dead, and they themselves at length, 
" not expecting delivei'ance," resolved to die, if die they must, with 
their face to their bloody and relentless foe. The women of Car- 
thage are celebrated for having cut off their hair to make bow- 
strings for their husbands, but the resolute and enduring courage, 
of these daughters of Britain make them worthy of higher fame. 
Englishmen may well feel proud of their countrywomen. 

Two great and good men are the central figures of this siege and 
relief, Sir Henry Lawrence and Sir Henry Havelock— the former 
an Episcopalian and the latter a Baptist — both men who honored 
and loved God, and who were greatly honored by God, the first in 
defending, the latter in rescuing, against fearful odds, the gallant 
men and women of the Lucknow Residency. 

Sir Henry Lawrence, after spending more than thirty years in 
the military and civil service in India, was appointed Governor of 
the Kingdom of Oude. He reached Lucknow, the capital, and 
entered upon his duties early in 1857, fully impressed by the dan- 
gerous condition of things at that time. Though in very feeble 
health, he set himself vigorously at work to prepare for the coming 
storm, which at length broke over India on the memorable 31st of 
May. Every city in Oude, save Lucknow, was seized that day by 
the Sepoys, and deeds of cruelty and blood perpetrated which 
shocked the whole civilized world,. Lucknow alone, where Sir 
Henry dwelt in the Residency, was held, and even his vigor and 
ability could not have suspended its fall had he not had a hand- 
ful of English soldiers to rely upon. He at once collected all the 
civilians and Christian residents of Lucknow, with a few native 
troops whose fidelity he thought he could trust, and over whom he 
exerted a wonderful influence, into the Residency, and some other 
houses close to it, and began to fortify them in the best manner 
that the time and means at his command would allow. Provisions 
were collected rapidly, and ammunition stored and prepared, guns 
put in position, and his people organized. In addition to the 



320 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Residency, he also occupied an old fort called the "Muchee Bha- 
wun," about one third of a mile west of the Residency, and close 
to which are our mission premises. Dividing his force, he fondly 
hoped to be strong enough to hold both positions till re-enforce- 
ments should reach him, and enable him to restore law and order 
at the capital, and throughout the kingdom. How little he fore- 
boded the fearful odds against which his feeble garrison would soon 
have to contend ! Meanwhile the reports of the fiendish atrocities 
of Delhi, Meerut, Shahjehanpore, Bareilly, and other places reached 
Lucknow, and its few hundred anxious Christian people began to 
realize more fully how completely they were cut off from all human 
assistance, and how dark their own future was becoming. 

The natives in the city had become so persuaded of the over- 
throw of the English power that the Government securities, which 
a few days before were selling at a premium, had fallen from over 
one hundred to thirty-seven. Fanatics paraded the city — some of 
them haianguing the crowds of people, and exhibiting pictures of 
Europeans maimed and mutilated by Sepoys ; others had a show 
of dolls dressed as European children, which ended by striking off 
their heads, to the great delight of the mobs, who looked on and 
applauded ; while the blasphemy of Mohammedan Fakirs became 
bold and frightful, as they exulted in the overthrow of Christian- 
ity, and demanded the blood of " the Kaffirs" in the Fort and Res- 
idency, as the consummation of their efforts. These wretched men 
imagined that the whole of Hindustan had fallen, that the few of our 
faith around Sir Henry Lawrence were all of the Christian life left 
in India ; and for many long and weary months the Christians gen- 
erally, like those at Nynee Tal, did not know but that this was the 
terrible truth. 

While busy preparing the defenses with which they were sur- 
rounding the Residency and the other houses near it, so as to form 
intrenchments, and make the best of their position, Sir Henry was 
joined by the few Europeans who had escaped from the massacres 
at Secrora and other stations in Oude. The news they brought 
deepened the gloom of the situation. Reports of the dead bodies 



THE DISASTROUS DEFEAT OF CHINHUT. 321 

ot Europeans, among them three women, lying by the road side a 
few miles out, were brought to them, and the fiendish cruelty to 
which they were exposed received a fearful illustration when, one 
day, some natives brought to the Residency the body of an English 
lady, which they had found lying by the road side cut up into quar- 
ters ! These unfortunate people were evidently making for the 
Residency when they were overtaken and thus cruelly murdered 
and mutilated by the Sepoys. 

Sir Henry now redoubled his efforts to complete the batteries, 
stockades, and trenches around his position, and prepare for what- 
ever might occur. Hearing, on the 29th of June, that the insur- 
gents were approaching Lucknow, he concluded to march out with 
a part of his little force, hoping to defeat them before they reached 
t-he city, and so save himself from investment and the city from 
being taken ; but, unfortunately, his information of the strength of 
the foe was defective, and in the moment of emergency, when he 
suddenly came upon them at Chinhut, seven miles from Lucknow, 
he found his little force of six hundred and thirty-six men and 
eleven guns in front of an enemy fifteen thousand strong, with six 
batteries of guns of various caliber, all ready to receive him. Be- 
fore his force could recover their surprise the foe opened upon 
them, their cavalry quickly outflanking them, and it seemed for a 
while as though not a man could escape to tell the tale. But the 
brave handful of troops showed a bold front, charging with the 
bayonet when the enemy came near enough, yet unable to follow 
up their advantages. The native drivers of the British guns fled 
in terror, and their artillery was rendered nearly useless, and most 
of it fell into the hands of the foe. Colonel Case, at the head of his 
men, was struck by a bullet and dropped. Captain Bassano, seeing 
him fall, turned to assist him, but the dying hero waved him off, 
saying, " Captain Bassano, leave me to die here ; your place is at 
the head of your company. I have no need of assistance." 

They now tried to return to Lucknow, but only about two hun- 
dred and thirty-four of their number reached the Residency ; they 
saved only sixty-five of their wounded — the rest were all cut up. 



322 TEE LA2n) OF TEE VEDA. 

The wonder is, that any one escaped. Had the rebel cavalry used 
its opportunity aot a single man of Sir Henry Lawrence's force, or 
of the faithful natives he had with him, could ever have returned to 
the Residency. 

This sad event of Chinhut caused Sir Henry Lawrence the deep- 
est anguish, and it is thought tended to shorten his life. His face, 
already careworn enough to be remarkable, assumed a sad aspect 
that it was painful to contemplate. But he nerved himself to meet 
the stern realities of the position, and all allow that it was, under 
God, to his foresight and efforts that the Lucknow garrison held 
out to be at last relieved by Havelock. Those who had till this 
day remained outside the intrenchments had now to fly to the Res- 
idency, leaving houses and property unprotected, sacrificing every 
thing, and thinking only of saving their lives. The Residency be- 
came one scene of confusion — the women and children rushing to 
find a place of refuge from the relentless foe, who, flushed with 
victory, were approaching with flying colors and drums beating, 
confident of an easy triumph over the remnant that remained. 

Men, covered with blood, some with mangled limbs, their mus- 
cles contracted with agony, their faces pale, and bodies almost cold, 
others with the death-rattle in their throat, were brought in by their 
comrades and laid in rows in the banqueting hall, now turned into 
a hospital. The ladies crowded around them, fanned them, sup- 
plied temporary bandages, and showed as much solicitude for them 
as though they had been their own relatives, which was probably 
the case as to some of them. The surgeons were soon busy enough, 
cutting, probing, amputating, and bandaging. All the horrors of 
war were at once laid bare before the anxious crowd. 

Every man, including the civilians — some of whom had never 
handled a musket before, but whom Sir Henry had armed — were now 
called out to defend the position, for the exultant enemy were pour- 
ing over the two bridges and up the streets to the very gates of the 
Residency, and getting their guns into position. The people of 
the city within range were flying, with their goods, out of the way 
of the expected bombardment, while both sides prepared for the 



UNEQUAL CONDITIONS OF THE CONFLICT. 323 

terrible and unequal conflict. The defenses of the Residency were 
hastily completed. Barricades were formed in all exposed situa- 
tions, and it is marvelous to read the elements of which some of 
them were composed^ — mahogany tables and valuable furniture of 
all kinds, carriages and carts, the records of Government officers in 
large chests, boxes of stationery, and whatever could be laid hold 
of and piled up, to cover from the enemy's fire or stop a bullet. 
Even Captain Hayes's famous library, consisting of invaluable 
Oriental manuscripts, the standard literary and scientific works of 
European nations, and dictionaries of almost every language, were, 
for the nonce, converted into barricades. 

These, with the other defenses which they had already prepared, 
were by no means strong, though the best they could extemporize. 
Their chief reliance was on the number of their guns, the quantity 
of their ammunition, and their ovm courage, which they hoped the 
God of Hosts would crown with his blessing, till relief could reach 
them from Calcutta or from England. 

Their enemies had taken possession of the houses deserted by 
the citizens, and were filling them with sharp-shooters, loop-holing 
the walls, and putting their numerous cannon in position all around 
the Residency, as near as they could come, a few of them being so 
close that they were not more than forty or fifty yards from the 
intrenchments around the buildings occupied by the Christians. 
This seems almost incredible, but I can vouch for its truthfulness 
from personal knowledge before the siege, and personal examina- 
tion after it, while the battered and torn Residency is to-day its 
standing memorial. Each party spent a busy night, and next 
morning the iron messengers of death were flying back and forth 
in increasing numbers. 

Let us pause here and note the respective strength of the par- 
ties in this fearfully unequal conflict, and the object for which each 
was about to fight. On the one side were part of an English 
regiment, one company of British artillery, a few hundred faithful 
Sepoys, with some English and European civilians ; on the other, 
the whole army of Oude. But this fact is worthy of more detail 



324 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

The entire number now inside the Residency, inckiding those 
holding the fort of the Muchee Bawun, near by, was as folJows : 

Men : European soldiers 629 

" civilians 298 

Native soldiers 765 

Total bearing arms , 1,692 

Women , 240 

Children 310 

Total inside the Residency 2,242 

This includes the sick and wounded after the disastrous defeat at 
Chinhut. 

Outside, their enemies swarmed around their position in such 
numbers that they have been variously computed at from 30,000 
to 100,000 strong at different periods during the siege, with about 
one hundred guns bearing on the devoted Residency and its 
defenders. 

But mere numbers do not give a sufficient idea of this dreadful 
contest. Many of those now within the Residency had fled there 
in such panic as to leave behind in their homes their provisions, 
money, and furniture, and were literally without a change of cloth- 
ing, or a bed to lie down upon, or a knife and spoon with which to 
eat their scanty food. The hottest time of the year was upon 
them, with not the first of the appliances by which they had been 
accustomed to mitigate its rigor. Crowded into the narrowest 
space, most of them had to lie down on the ground, the heat, 
mosquitoes and effluvia being almost intolerable : the shot of the 
enemy, too, often came crashing through the walls, sprinkling them 
with the dust and mortar as it passed over them, while sometimes 
a fearful shell would explode in their midst, and kill or wound 
two or three or more of them. Alas ! one hundred and forty-three 
days of such suffering lay before them now, during which time 
two fifths of their number were to die, and more than a thousand 
brave men would have to perish in order to save the remnant that 
was left ! 

The Residency itself, and a few houses around it — the homes of 



THE MUCHEE BAWUN BLOWN UP. 325 

the officers in the suite of the Governor — occupied an elevated 
plateau, with the city on three sides of it and the river Goomtee on 
the north. From the roof of the Residency the view was beauti- 
ful, extending over the city and surrounding country. The num- 
bej and variety of the buildings, the gilded domes and cupolas, the 
elegant outlines of the palaces, all set in the deep green of the 
surrounding trees and gardens, together made up a scene of sur- 
passing beauty ; but no building could have been less calculated 
for purposes of defense. Its lofty windows, which had not been 
walled up, offered unopposed entrance to every bullet that came. 
The roof was wholly exposed. Below its ground floor the Resi- 
dency had a spacious " Tyekhana " — underground rooms, used by 
people in India as a retreat from the heat and glare of the mid-day 
sun in the hot season, and as soon as the siege commenced the 
ladies and children were crowded into this splendid cellar, and had 
to remain there. The Banqueting Hall was turned into a hospital, 
and the upper rooms occupied by the soldiers. Altogether, in this 
one building there were from 800 to 1,000 persons. The remain- 
der were placed in the houses around, or at the batteries, or where 
any shelter could be found. 

Meanwhile the siege went on, and increased in its fierceness ; 
closer and closer still was drawn the circle of guns around the 
position, and they were served with great ability. Every loop-hole 
made in the walls of the houses around had a sharp-shooter at it 
day and night, and the moment a head was exposed the rifle sent 
forth a leaden messenger of death. Sir Henry soon became con- 
vinced that he was too weak in numbers to think any longer of 
holding both the Muchee Bawun and the Residency. He saw 
that he would be overwhelmed in the assault which would probably 
follow this fierce bombardment, so he resolved to give up the 
Muchee Bawun and concentrate his whole force within the Resi- 
dency. But how to effect the junction now, when the river side 
of the road the whole way to the Muchee Bawun was lined with 
the batteries and troops of the enemy, was a difficulty before which 
most men would have shrunk. Sir Henry, however, saw it must 



326 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

be attempted, and every thing was done to carry it out. By tele- 
graphic signals from the tower, shown in the picture, communica- 
tions were at length established, and the order was transmitted to 
the commanding officer, "Blow up the fort and come to the Resi- 
dency at twelve d clock to-night. Bring your treasure and guns y and 
destroy the remainder ^ 

That night was anxiously looked for, and many an earnest 
prayer went up to God that every movement might be made safely 
and well, so that the retreat of the retiring force might not be 
intercepted. To distract the attention of the enemy the batteries 
opened fire, especially toward the iron bridge, by which the column 
must pass. The movement was most successfully accomplished, 
and so noiseless was the march, favored by the darkness, that the 
head of the column was at the Residency gate at fifteen minutes 
after twelve. There was a little delay here, as, not being so 
quickly expected, the gate had not been made ready. It was dark, 
and a very serious accident had almost occurred, for the leading 
men finding the gates closed, cried out, " Open the gates." This 
the artillerists at the guns above, which covered the entrance, 
mistook for " open with grape." They flew to their guns and 
rammed in the grape, when an officer rushed up and set them 
right. The whole force came in without a shot being fired by 
them or at them. The distance is fully one third of a mile, and 
the enemy was on their left hand, within fifty or sixty yards of them 
most of the way. The explosion had not yet occurred, the fuses 
having been left extra long to give time for the rear to be quite 
clear of danger ; but soon a shake of the earth, a volume of fire, a 
terrific report, and an immense column of black smoke shooting 
high into the air, announced to Lucknow that the Muchee Bawun 
was no more. All the ammunition that they could not remove — 
two hundred and fifty barrels of powder and several millions of 
ball cartridge — was destroyed, together with the buildnigs and their 
contents. The shock resembled an earthquake. 

How gladly the garrison greeted their comrades as they entered! 
The junction of the two forces was an incalculable gain, for the 



iSm HENBT LAWRENCE'S DEATH. 327 

additional men were actually required to man the defenses, and 
their safe arrival greatly cheered every person in the Residency. 
Strange things will occur in the most solemn circumstances. On 
calling their muster-roll they found one man was missing — an Irish 
soldier. He was given up as lost. The unfortunate fellow had 
been left behind in a state of intoxication. He was thrown into 
the air and returned again to mother earth unhurt, continued his 
drunken sleep, and awoke early next morning to find, to his aston- 
ishment, the fort all in ruins around him. He deliberately walked 
to the Residency, unmolested by any one. The men inside 
the Residency gate, just as day was breaking, were not a little 
surprised to hear a man outside sing out to them, with a rich Irish 
brogue, " Arrah, thin, open your gates ! " Convulsed with laugh- 
ter, they opened and let the poor fellow in. He was asked why he 
had left the Ibrt, and with a look of wonder and simplicity an- 
sw'ered, " Sure, an' I didn't see e'er a man in the place." 

Every one seemed to catch the spirit of the noble chief — Sir 
Henry's presence anywhere was like a re-enforcement. Day and 
night he was inspecting and encouraging the various posts, ex- 
posed to imminent danger all the while. From twelve to forty 
men were at each point or battery, with thousands of the blood- 
thirsty and blaspheming fanatics opposed to each set ; but these 
outposts must be maintained, for if once in, the enemy never 
could have been turned out ; every man, woman, and child would 
have been ruthlessly butchered ; yet each party fought under the 
apprehension that others might be more hardly pressed than them- 
selves, and occasionally the cry would be heard, " More men this 
way !" and off would run two or three, all that could be spared, till 
a similar cry was heard from another direction, when others would 
rush to that point to give assistance. 

On July 4 the heaviest trial that could befall them occurred — 
their trusted and heroic commander was struck down. The 
Sepoys had found out what room Sir Henry Lawrence occupied — 
the one shown on the lower floor, right-hand side, in the picture, 
and they began to send shells into it. One of these entered and 



328 TUB LAND OF THE VEDA. 

exploded close to Sir Henry, tearing the thigh from his body, and 
mortally wounding him. He lingered for two days, and then de- 
parted as noble a spirit as ever animated human clay. He spent 
the conscious moments of these two days in directing and advising 
what should be done in carrying on the defense till succor should 
arrive. Frequently he would arouse himself, and exclaim to the 
mourning group around him, " Save the ladies ' " and for their 
sakes he enjoined upon them, in view of what had been done at 
Delhi and Cawnpore, never to surrender ! His last thoughts were 
given to those he loved so well, and to the Redeemer whom he 
had served for many years. He expressed his anxiety for the wel- 
fare of the " Lawrence Asylum " — a school which he had founded 
for the children of soldiers in India ; sent affectionate mes- 
sages to his children and to his brother, late Viceroy of India, 
and to his sisters ; and spoke most affectionately of ftis wife, Lady 
Lawrence, who had died four years previously. He then earnestly 
pointed out to those around him the worthlessness of all human 
distinctions, recommending them to fix their thoughts upon a bet- 
ter world and try to gain it. He was prayed with, and received 
the holy sacrament, praising God, and expressing his perfect faith 
and reliance on his divine Saviour, and in this state of mind he 
passed out of that scene of conflict and confusion to that blessed 
clime where 

" No rude alarm of raging foes, 

No fears, shall break his long repose." 

Military honors marked not their respect for his remains. The 
times were too stern for such demonstrations. " By dead of 
night " a hurried prayer, amid the booming of the enemy's cannon 
and the fire of their musketry, was read over his corpse, and he 
was lowered into a pit, with several other, though lowlier, compan- 
ions in arms, and there he sleeps behind the Residency, awaiting 
the resurrection of the just. 

A feeling of despair for a few hours seemed to take possession 
of every man and woman, but they had to rouse themselves to 
meet the stern realities of their position. Darker and more dread- 



THEIR DREADFUL RESOLUTION. 329 

fill the days came on ; yet still they fought and suffered. Their 
hopes of relief were still deferred, and their hearts were sick, while 
their foes grew stronger in numbers and determination to destroy 
them, and would frequently yell out, with fearful imprecations — for 
they were near enough to be heard — what they would do with 
them when they did get in. But the garrison were determined 
there should not be another Cawnpore. Sir Henry's injunction 
"never to surrender" was fully accepted. It is fearful to read 
their resolves should the worst come, and to find the ladies acqui- 
escing; and even, in some cases, requiring an engagement from 
their husbands to fulfill those wishes rather than that they should 
fall into the hands of the Sepoys. 

This awful alternative was actually taken by some of those who 
fell at Jan see. One lady in particular is mentioned, who pledged 
her husband, an English ofhcer, that when death became inevitable, 
he was not to allow her to fall alive into the power of the Sepoys, 
but she was to die by a pistol-ball from his own hand. Sadly and 
reluctantly he gave the promise ; and when the fearful hour came, 
and the enemy broke in upon them, she sprang to his side, and, 
with a last caress exclaimed, " Now, Charley, now — your promise ! " 
He kissed her,, put the pistol to her head, and then turned and sold 
his own life dearly to the wretches around him. 

Such cases cannot be judged by ordinary rules. Those who 
entertained such thoughts were confronted by an Oriental foe, 
whose fiendish malice and cruelty to women and children are not 
known in civilized warfare. It is a matter of devout thankfulness 
that the Lucknow garrison were not reduced to this dreadful 
extremity. It would have clouded the bright record of their heroic 
endurance. 

Space would fail to give even a brief outline of their sorrows dur- 
ing the next three months. Reduced to starvation allowances of 
the coarsest food, many of them clad in rags, and all crowded into 
the narrowest quarters, so that Mrs. Harris's Diary speaks of the 
ladies lying on the floor, " fitting into each other like bits in a puz- 
zle, until the whole floor was full," they still courageously endured. 



330 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

And if this was the condition of those in health, what must have 
been the state of the sick and wounded ! Small-pox, cholera, boils, 
dysentery, and malarious fever added their horrors to the situation, 
while the iron hail of death, mingling with the drenching rain of 
the monsoon, dropped upon them, so that by the first of August 
the deaths sometimes rose to twenty in a single day. During this 
period, and amid all this turmoil and sorrow, eight or ten little ones 
were born ; and most of these " siege babies," as they were called, 
actually lived through it all, and still survive, while many of the 
poor mothers sank under their privations. But the bereaved 
babies were cared for by the noble women around them. Daily 
the men fell in the presence of the enemy ; and it is described as 
truly affecting to see how the list of newly-made widows increased 
in its number and sadness. 

Food and clothing became painfully scarce, and now " money 
was despised for bread." The effects, or little stores, of the offi- 
cers killed were at once sold by auction to the survivors, and it is 
curious now to read the prices that were eagerly paid. A bottle of 
wine brought 70 rupees, (the rupee is 50 cents in gold ;) a ham, 75 
rupees ; a bottle of honey, 45 rupees ; a cake of chocolate, 30 
rupees ; a bottle of brandy, 140 rupees ; a small fowl, bought by 
an officer for his sick wife, 20 rupees ; two pounds of sugar brought 
16 rupees, and other things in proportion. An old flannel shirt, 
that had seen hard service in the mines — which they had to dig to 
countermine the enemy — brought 45 rupees. The single suit with 
which many of them had to hurry into the Residency was being 
fast worn out, and the officers might have been seen wearing the 
most extraordinary costumes. Few had any semblance of a mili- 
tary uniform, and many were in shirts, trousers, and slippers only. 
One gallant civilian, having found an old billiard-table cloth, had 
contrived to make himself a kind of loose coat out of it. All 
carried muskets, and were accoutered like the soldiers. 

While the feeble garrison were thus decreasing in numbers, their 
foes were augmenting their strength. The Talookdars (Barons) of 
Oude were sending their armed retainers to aid the Sepoys, till it 



THE 800THIN0 INFLUENCE OF PBATER. 33 1 

was thought that by the end of August there must have been as 
many as one hundred thousand men around the Residency. Their 
leaders were maddened by the continued and successful resistance 
of the English ; and all that they could do to inspire their men, by 
fanaticism, bhang, (an intoxicating liquor,) and brave leading, were 
done to capture the position. They attempted to storm it several 
times. Three of these occasions are specially memorable ; and it is 
perfectly amazing to read the stern, unconquerable resistance with 
which this handful of heroic men, behind their intrenchments, met 
and dashed back again that raging tide of fierce and blaspheming 
assailants. They would begin by exploding the mines which they 
had driven close up to or under the defenses, open with a fearful 
cannonade, and then swarm up to the breaches made. On July 
20th the fight lasted from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M., with the broiling sun 
up to 140 degrees. At what cost these repulses must have been 
received may be understood by the fact, that the native report of 
the attempt to storm on the loth of August admits a loss on their 
side of four hundred and seventy men killed and wounded on that 
day alone. 

Lady Inglis, wife of the Commander, in her journal of this ter- 
rible day, while the poor ladies down in the Tyekhana trembled 
for the result, refers to the soothing influence oi prayer, as she 
tried it there with that excited and terrified crowd of women. The 
effect, she says, was amazing ; each of them seemed to rise above 
herself, and with calmness and true courage they awaited the 
result, realizing that, though the enemy was near, God himself was 
nearer still, and could preserve them. And he did preserve them. 

It is described as one of the most affecting sights that ever was 
witnessed in a scene of battle to see how the wounded men acted 
on that day. Knowing the danger, and how their comrades were 
pressed, they insisted on leaving their beds in the hospital and 
being helped to the front. The poor fellows came staggering along 
to the scene of action, trembling with weakness and pale as death, 
some of them bleeding from their wounds, which reopened by the 
exertions they made. Those whose limbs were injured laid aside 



332 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

their crutches and kneeled do'^n, and fired as fast as they could out 
of the loop-holes ; while others, who could not do this much, lay on 
their backs on the ground and loaded for those who were firing. 
With such endurance as this the fierce enemy was beaten back ; 
and Asiatics were taught how Christian soldiers could fight and die 
when defending the lives and honor of Christian women. The 
storming over, the usual cannonade and musketry were resumed ; 
but the garrison had become so used to danger and death, that by 
this time the balls would fall at their feet, or whiz past and graze 
their hair, frequently without causing any remark about their escapes 
— they were so common, yet so narrow. The very children began to 
act like soldiers, playing the mimic " game of war," One urchin of 
five years was heard saying to another, " You fire round shot, and 
I'll return shell from my battery." Another, getting into a rage 
with his playmates, exclaimed, " I hope you may be shot by the 
enemy ! " Others, playing with grape instead of marbles, would 
say, " That's clean through his lungs," or, " That wants more eleva- 
tionr These young scamps picked up all the expressions of the 
artillery, and made use of them at their games. 

I'he peacock abounds in India, wild and " in all his glory." On 
the 30th of June, during a lull in the firing, one of these magnifi- 
cent birds flew near the Residency, perched on the ramparts, 
and there quietly plumed his feathers. The hungry men looked at 
him for awhile, and all felt what a welcome addition he would be 
to their scanty fare. They could easily have shot him, but they 
refrained ; the beautiful creature seemed like an omen of coming 
liberty and peace, and he was allowed to remain unmolested as 
long as he liked. 

To insult the garrison, the Sepoys would frequently send the 
regimental bands to the opposite banks of the river Goomtee, and 
have them perform the popular English airs that they used to 
play there for their officers in other days. With any thing but 
pleasant feelings, the garrison would have to listen to " The 
Standara Bearer's March," " The Girl I Left Behind Me," " See, 
the Conquering Hero Comes," etc. The disloyal rascals had the 




% 



Henry Havelock. 

By permission of Bryan, Taylor & Oo. 



HAVELOCK'S OPPORTUNE ARRIVAL. 335 

impudence always to finish the concert with the loyal air, " God 
Save the Queen." 

We pause here to consider what was being done, meanwhile, 
hundreds of miles aWay for their relief The English authorities 
at Calcutta had become ere this fully aware of their danger, and 
were straining every nerve to send them assistance. But what 
could they do without men .^ Delhi had not a soldier to spare, nor 
had other points throughout the land where a few English troops 
were found. Relief must come from without, until the four tedious 
months rolled over that would bring it from England, twelve thou- 
sand miles away. 

It was this terrible emergency that made the little force from the 
Persian Gulf so opportune in its arrival in June. Its saintly and 
gallant commander was General Havelock, whose portrait we here 
present. 

No account of the Sepoy Rebellion would be just or adequate 
that would fail to give him that prominence in its overthrow which 
Almighty God, in his wonderful providence, awarded him. 

About a month after the battle of Waterloo Henry Havelock 
entered the English army as Second Lieutenant in the Rifle Bri- 
gade. In 1823 he was ordered to India, and it was while on his way 
there, on board the " General Kyd," and chiefly through the instru- 
mentality of Lieutenant James Gardner, that he was led to that 
full surrender of his heart and life to the Lord Jesus which he so 
consistently sustained through the evil and good report of the fol- 
lowing forty-three years of his eventful military career. His con- 
secration to God was so complete that a brother officer has testified 
of him that " he invariably secured two hours in the morning for 
reading the Scriptures and private prayer." He did this even when 
campaigning ; so that " if the march began at six o'clock, he rose 
at four ; if at four, he rose at two." He recognized the claims of 
God upon his money as well as his time, and from his conversion 
to the close of his career he devoted regularly one tenth of his 
income to the cause of God ; so that he might be truly described, 
in the words applied to the Centurion of the Italian band at Cesa- 



336 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

rea, as " a devout man, and one who prayed to God alway." His 
talents were equally at the Lord's service, so that he was ever 
ready to visit the sick, to hold a prayer- meeting, to address an 
audience at a missionary or Bible meeting, while his efforts to lead 
the men whom he commanded to Christ, and to promote temper- 
ance and virtue among them, are well known to have been contin- 
ued to the last, and to have been greatly owned of God. 

Havelock was a Baptist by profession, but he would not be a 
close communionist. He loved all good men, and delighted to join 
with them in celebrating his Lord's death. In all his public acts, 
when he rose to eminence and command, his dispatches and orders 
acknowledged God, and he delighted to ascribe to him the victories 
that he was enabled to achieve. How touching are these, especially 
in his last campaign ! 

His life was one of continued exposure and hard service. In 
1824 he fought under Sir Archibald Campbell in Burmah, where 
he had the satisfaction of assisting at the liberation of Dr and Mrs. 
Judson from the Emperor's cruel tyranny. It was then, in the 
midst of a ser'ous military move, and when the corps ordered to 
occupy a most important point were found utterly incapable, from 
intoxication, to fulfill their duty, that his commander-in-chief paid 
him and his men that rough compliment — " Call out Havelock's 
saints ; they are never drunk, and Havelock is always ready ! " 
The "saints" and their leader promptly responded, the position 
was saved, and the enemy repulsed. 

How he was esteemed by his men, for whose highest good he 
labored so earnestly, may be seen in the fact that when, in 1836, 
his house was accidentally burned with all its contents, the men of 
his regiment came in a body to him, begging him to allow each of 
them to devote one month's pay to help him to sustain the loss. 
He gratefully declined the aid pressed upon him, but what a satis- 
faction must it have been in showing the estimation in which these 
men held him. He might well offset any petty High Church 
hauteur which certain parties might affect toward him because he 
was a " Dissenter," with this noble instance of the value in 



MAVELOCK'S MILITARY SERVICES. 337 

which his character and senaces were held by those who best 
knew in what his Christianity consisted. 

If the consideration intimated had any thing to do with the fact 
that he was allowed to serve his country twenty-three years as a 
subaltern before he was promoted to a captaincy, the narrow- 
minded bigots who did him the injustice are not to be envied now. 
When they shall have been long forgotten, the good soldier of Jesus 
Christ, whose advance they retarded, will be remembered and hon- 
ored by gallant men and true women on both Continents. 

In 1838 he took part in the invasion of Afghanistan, was at the 
storming of Ghuznee, at the forcing of the Khoord Cabool Pass, and 
aided in the memorable defense of Jellalabad, where he won his 
majority, and received the Cross of the Bath for conspicuous 
bravery. He took part in the forcing of the Khyber Pass, in the 
invasion of Kohistan, and in the battle of Muherajpore. He wrote 
the military memoirs of some of these great events, and was Per- 
sian interpreter to the Commander-in-chief At Moodkee, in 1845, 
he had two horses shot under him, and another at the battle of 
Sabraon ; became Military Secretary to the Commander-in-chief 
and Colonel ; till at length, after twenty-six years of hard service, 
which bore heavily on a constitution not naturally strong, he was 
permitted to visit England to recruit that energy which would soon 
be required in circumstances of greater emergency than he or his 
country had ever seen in the East. 

Divine Providence had thus trained him for the supreme duty 
of his life. In 1855 he was back in India, appointed Adjutant- 
General, and just entering his sixtieth year, and in January, 1857, 
Avas nominated in orders to command the second division of the 
army employed against Persia, under Lieutenant-General Sir James 
Outram, from whence he returned victorious. In the heart of 
Persia we find him writing to his beloved wife, (the daughter of 
Dr. Marshman, the well-known missionary :) " I have good troops 
and cannon under my command, but my trust is in the Lord Jesus, 
my tried and merciful friend ! To him all power is intrusted in 
heaven and on earth " He had to pass a fort here, his steamer 



338 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

being crowded with his Highlanders, whom he made to lie down, 
while, Farragut-like, he took his station on the paddle-box, to aid 
as the emergency required. Though the bullets whizzed all around 
him he was untouched. After the victory was won, he writes : 
" I felt throughout that the Lord Jesus was at my side." 

The sympathy of this noble man with " the common people " is 
beautifully illustrated just here, when we find him engaged in writ- 
ins: a Ions: letter to a Christian soldier then in London, named 
Godfrey, who had formerly served under him, a letter from whom 
found him in Persia. 

But now came the days when we needed him and his brave men, 
and a merciful Providence causes war to cease in Mohummera, and 
returns him to India on the very day before the Bareilly massacre. 
He is delayed by shipwreck, and by having to wait for his troops 
at Calcutta, The 78th Highlanders, 84th and 64th Queens', reach 
him at last, and, as no more can then be spared, save a few Sikhs, 
and notwithstanding that he must know that he had probably a 
heavier duty on his hands than any soldier of his race ever under- 
took, he shrinks not — but with the words to his wife, " May God 
give me wisdom and strength to fulfill the expectations oi the 
Government, and restore tranquillity in the disturbed provinces," 
he sets out on his last eventful campaign, to find a grave at its 
close, but realizing all through it, ay, and at the end as well, that 
" the Lord Jesus was at his side ! " 

With only fourteen hundred British bayonets and eight guns, 
united to less than three hundred Sikhs and thirty irregular cav- 
alry, he sublimely writes in starting : " I march to-morrow to 
endeavor to retake Cawnpore and rescue Lucknow ! " He was 
to do this through a country swarming with Sepoy troops, who 
had been well disciplined and armed by Englishmen, and to do 
it, too, at that season of the year when the rains fall fast and 
frequently, and the flat country is inundated, and the sun pouis 
down its rays like fire, till the thermometer stands at one hundred 
and thirty-eight degrees — to do it all with a poorly-supplied com- 
missariat, with few tents, and little shelter. Were ever such results 



THE VICTORY AT FUTTTPORE. 339 

sought by such means under such circumstances ? But they were 
the best the times admitted, and knowing the danger of delay foi 
the precious lives at Cawnpore and Lucknow, he would take them, 
and trust Him for the results who can save by few as by many. 

At Futtypore he was confronted by thirty-five hundred rebels — 
two regiments being cavalry and three infantry— with twelve guns 
His men had just finished their march under a broiling sun that 
forenoon, when the Sepoys bore down upon him, confident of an 
easy triumph. But in four hours Havelock had his victory, with 
eleven of the rebel guns, their ammunition and baggage, as the 
trophies of it in his hands. In his General Order he ascribes his 
triumph " to the power of the Enfield rifle in British hands, to 
British pluck, and to the blessing of Almighty God on a most 
righteous cause— the cause of justice, humanity, truth, and good 
government in India." This conflict occurred on the 12th of July 
—the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, as noticed by the 
General. He also notes that one of the infantry regiments opposed 
to him was the 56th, the very regiment which he himself led at the 
battle of Maharajpore a few years previously ! He challenged them 
in particular, and was exultant over their defeat ; yet adds in his 
letter, " But away with vain-glory ! Thanks to Almighty God, who 
gave me the victory ! " Such was the man, and such the heroes 
whom he led, who were thus fighting their way up to our relief 
against such fearful odds. 

It was near Futtypore, and about one day before the battle, that 
Joel met this force. His party had slept, the night before in Judge 
Tucker's house, as narrated in his letter. That gentleman's death 
was avenged before the General left Futtypore. On the day of 
the rising in May, Judge Tucker refused to desert his post, hoping 
to preserve the peace by the assistance of his subordinate, Hikrim- 
toolah Khan, the Deputy Collector. But, like Khan Bahadar, this 
man proved a cruel traitor. He himself led on the mob which sur- 
rounded the Judge's house. Hikrimtoolah proposed to try him, 
but the stern Judge would not surrender. Sixteen of his assailants 
fell by his hand ere this brave man was overpowered. At lenc^th 



340 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Hikrimtoolah had him at his disposal, and, taking off his hands, 
feet, and head, he held them up before the mob as trophies. All 
this was known ; for evidence of native Christians, and others who 
fled, was taken on oath, and was already on file in Havelock's 
hands. Instead of keeping out of the way, Hikrimtoolah, with con- 
summate hypocrisy, supposing his deed unknown to the General, 
came out to congratulate Havelock on his victory. He was at once 
arrested, the evidence of his guilt was found to be conclusive, and 
he was executed on the spot. 

At Aong and Pandoo Nuddee Havelock was again victorious. 
This latter action brought him within a few miles of Cawnpore. 
Jnteliigence of the defeat of his Sepoy forces reached the Nana 
Sahib on the night of the 15th of July, and was immediately fol- 
lowed by the massacre of the ladies, already described. 

The weary soldiers were aroused by the bugle-blast long before 
daylight on the morning of the i6th. They had that day to meet 
the sternest resistance they had ever yet encountered, for the whole 
force of the Nana Sahib, who commanded in person, lay between 
them and Cawnpore, where they hoped to find alive, and still hold- 
mg out, the noble men they were marching and fighting so hard 
to save. The foe was met strongly intrenched at Ahirwa, and they 
fought like furies for two hours and twenty minutes, with every 
advantage in their favor. The British charge that day is described 
by those who witnessed it as one of the most sublime illustrations 
of the power of discipline that was ever witnessed. That little force 
of thirteen hundred men moved up, steady and silent as a wall, to 
conquer or to die, amid those crashing shells and volleys of mus- 
ketry ; and the heart of the foe died within him, and his fire became 
hasty and ill-directed, as the sheen of the British bayonets became 
ominously distinct, till, within one hundred yards, they delivered 
their fire, and with a cheer dashed through their own smoke at 
the enemy. Then each rebel thought only of himself. These 
humbled Brahmins dropped their weapons, stripped off their packs, 
and spurred and ran for dear life back to the city of their hideous 
crime, leaving all their guns in Havelock's hands. He lost one 



TOO LATE AFTER ALL TO SAVE THE LADLES. 34 1 

hundred of his small force in this fierce contest. It is believed 
that " in no action ever fought was the superior power of arrange- 
ment, moral force, personal daring, and physical strength of the 
European over the Asiatic more apparent" than in this case, for 
the rebels fought hard and well, but they had met far more than 
their match, and were terribly beaten. Thus, between the 7th and 
1 6th of July, Havelock's men had marched one hundred and twenty- 
six miles, under an Indian sun, alternated with tropical rains ; had 
fought four battles, and captured forty-four guns ; yet their labors 
and sufferings were only beginning. Still their General trusted in 
God, and held that his soldiers' disciphne was equal to their valor, 
and he resolved to push on and finish the work that was given them 
to do. 

The wounded are gathered and cared for, the dead buried, and 
the weary heroes lie down on the soaking earth to rest and dream 
of the deliverance they will surely bring to-morrow to their belea- 
guered friends in Cawnpore. In the middle of the night a crash that 
shook the ground beneath awoke them — Nana Sahib had blown up 
the Cawnpore magazine. On the morning of the 17th the British 
marched into Cawnpore. A Eurasian with whom I am well ac- 
quainted, a Mr. Shepherd — the only living Christian in the district, 
and who escaped as by a miracle — rushed out from his hiding-place 
and joined them ; he told them all, and led them to the house of 
blood ! These men, who had charged to the cannon's mouth on 
the preceding day, sank down on the ground and wept like children 
at this spectacle of crime and suffering. Havelock's feelings of grief 
were inexpressible. Nana Sahib's butcheries were evidently a defi- 
ant challenge to a conflict of absolute extermination on the one side 
or the other : none could misunderstand his purpose. 

Resting his weary and sorrowful troops for that day, on the 19th 
Havelock marched against Bithoor. But Nana Sahib had fled and 
crossed the Ganges, to get between Havelock and Lucknow, so as 
at least to delay his march till the Sepoys there could have time to 
copy the hideous infamy of which he had given them the example. 

On the 20th General Neill, at Havelock's urgent request, had 



342 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

joined him from Allahabad witn every available man — only two 
hundred and seventy of the Fusileers in all. Leaving Neill at 
Cawnpore with a few soldiers, Havelock, strong in hope that he 
should yet be in time to save the Lucknow garrison, crossed the 
Ganges on the 21st with his gallant fifteen hundred men, and 
began his first march for their relief He fought two battles and 
gained two victories at Onao and Busserut Gunge in one day. But 
at this season the rains deluge the whole face of the country, which 
is quite flat between the two cities. There is only one road for 
that forty-three miles, and his foes, recruited from Lucknow, were 
swelled to ten or fifteen thousand men, with ample artillery and 
cavalry. Havelock had lost many of his officers and men. The 
gallant Renaud was killed ; Beatson had died of cholera ; disease 
and sun-stroke were bus}^ in his ranks ; and the great and good man 
was compelled, with a sad heart, to come to the conclusion thai he 
must return nearer to Cawnpore, and wait for reinforcements, ere 
he could venture to resume his march. To persevere now would 
be certain destruction. So he returned to Munghowur, sent his 
sick and wounded to Cawnpore, and corresponded with Calcutta 
and Allahabad, entreating for help. 

All this time he was trying to communicate with Lucknow, by 
hiring faithful natives to venture to carry letters to the garrison. 
Three of his missives did reach them — short, written in Greek, and 
inclosed in a quill, which the messenger could conceal in his mouth 
when liable to be searched by the rebel police and others. He had 
the satisfaction of receiving two replies from them, telling him of 
their condition and how they looked for his arrival. They little 
imagined with how small a force, and under what disadvantages, he 
was trying to reach them, for he made light of his obstacles, and 
wrote cheerfully of his hopes. 

Neill sent out to him every available soldier that couid then be 
obtained ; and with fourteen hundred healthy men Havelock com- 
menced his second march to relieve Lucknow on the 4th of August. 
The enemy had taken up a strong position on their old ground, at 
Busserut Gunge. The Sepoys, in great force and well posted, had the 



HAVELOCK UNABLE TO ADVANCE. 343 

town for their second line of defense. The country on either side 
of the road was little better than a lake ; so, as it was impossible for 
Havelock to turn the position, he had to advance along the road 
which they so completely commanded, to drive them from their 
position. But he did this, and gained the town, and drove the 
rebels through and beyond it. He had only a handful of cavalry to 
follow u]-) his advantage. This was his seventh victory. 

But now appeared an invisible foe whom he could not conquer. 
The terrible Asiatic cholera broke out among his men, and he was 
in the field, exposed to the elements, and surrounded by swamps 
and malaria. He had, therefore, to retreat again, not from the face 
of man, but from the fearful pestilence. He retired upon Mung- 
howur, which was on rising ground, and here he wrote one of his 
last letters to Mrs. Havelock, evidently fully conscious of the emer- 
gencies of his position, and says : " I have every-where beaten my 
foes, but things are in a most perilous state. If we succeed in 
restormg any thing, it will be by God's especial and extraordinary 
mercy. I must now write as one whom you may see no more, for 
the chances of war are heavy at this crisis. Thank God for my 
hope in the Saviour ! We shall meet in heaven." 

What the Duke of Wellington said of a soldier whom he saw 
turn pale as he looked at the fearful breach which he was mount- 
ing up to storm — " There is a brave man ; he sees his danger, and 
yet he faces it " — might with every propriety be said of this warrior 
and his men. They were fully sensible of their risks, and yet they 
gallantly faced them. What would four or five thousand men have 
been to Havelock then ! But help was far away. A few hundreds 
were struggling up to him from Calcutta, but the forces he needed 
were tossing on the biEows off the Cape of Good Hope, while 
twenty thousand Sepoys, well provisioned, and in splendid condi- 
tion, lay extended across the road by which he wanted to march to 
the relief of the beleaguered garrison in the Residency. He had 
lost one hundred and forty men out of a thousand, and was but ten 
miles on his road to Lucknow. He evidently had no alternative 
but to go back to Cawnpore and wait for help. On the thirteenth 



344 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

he recrossed the Ganges, and here the additional danger of his 
position broke upon him. Nana Sahib had recrossed the river 
before him and was threatening Cawnpore, and also his communi- 
cations with Allahabad, while Neill and his little force were Dn the 
brink of destruction. He soon retrieved the state of affairs, fight- 
ing another well-contested battle, and scattering the rebel hosts to 
the winds. 

Himself and men were now doomed to a brief term of enforced 
rest, which they greatly needed ere they entered upon their last 
great struggle. On the 15 th of September came some of the help 
for which he had so longed, for Lieutenant-General Sir James 
Outram, with two thousand men, reached Cawnpore that day. 
General Outram could, in view of his superior rank, have at once 
assumed command ; but, with a magnanimity as rare as it was 
generous, he waived his right, that he might gratify and honor the 
noble man whose devotion and gallantry he so highly appreciated. 
He therefore issued his divisional order on the night of the i6th, 
saying, " The important duty of first relieving Lucknow has been 
intrusted to Major-General Havelock, and General Outram feels 
that it is due to this distinguished officer, and the strenuous and 
noble exertions which he has already made to effect that object, 
that to him should accrue the honor of the achievement. Geneial 
Outram is confident that the great end for which General Have- 
lock and his brave troops have so long and gloriously fought will 
now, under the blessing of Providence, be accomplished. The 
General, therefore, in gratitude for, and admiration of, the bril- 
liant deeds in arms achieved by General Havelock and his gal- 
lant troops, will cheerfully waive his rank on the occasion, and will 
accompany the force to Lucknow in his civil capacity as Chief 
Commissioner of Oude, tendering his military services to General 
Havelock as a volunteer." 

Havelock gratefully and publicly acknowledged this generous 
and noble conduct of his chief, and, with renewed hope, prepared 
for the great task before him. The first letter of Havelock's that 
the garrison in the Residency received was on the 24th of July, 



REINFORCED AND ON HIS WAT AGAIN. 345 

promising, as the writer fondly hoped, rehef in a few days ; but it 
was not till the 29th of August that they understood the reasons 
of his delay, and now, nearly a month later still, he was al length 
to inform them in person what he had endured in order to reach 
them, and why he could not do so at an earlier day. 

On the 20th of September Havelock again crossed the Ganges 
with 3,179 men, composed of the 78th and 91st Highlanders, the 
64th and 84th, and the ist and 5th Fusileers, a regiment of 
Sikhs, and 168 volunteer cavalry. No greater work was ever 
accomplished by military skill and daring than the relief of the 
Lucknow garrison by this handful of men. 

The faithful native messenger, Ungud, again reached his camp, 
and was at once dispatched to give the final assurance to the gar- 
rison that he was at last really coming, and that, God helping him, 
they should be relieved v/ithin three or four days. This glad news 
reached them on the 22d of September, and raised the drooping 
spirits of all. How fervently they prayed, and how anxiously they 
watched, during the three following days, trembling to think how 
many precious lives of their approaching friends would have to be 
sacrificed in order to rescue them ! 

General Havelock had to fight two battles more between Cawn- 
pore and Lucknow, but these he fought and won. Within five 
miles of the city they could hear the artillery booming around the 
Residency of Lucknow, and the General ordered a royal salute to 
be fired from his heaviest guns, in the hope that his beleaguered 
friends might hear the report and understand its import — that 
deliverance was drawing nigh. 

Their beaten foes fell back on their strong city, about two miles 
of which Havelock's men must fight their way through, ere they 
could reach the Residency. Every inch of ground was disputed ; 
palisades and barricades had to be taken at the point of the bayonet. 
The flat-roofed houses had been furnished with mud-walls on the 
top, on the street side, pierced for musketry, where the Sepoys 
could fire on the men in the narrow streets without exposing their 
own persons, thus doing dreadful execution. No words can do 



346 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

justice to that march of fire and death. " Broad, deep trenches 
had been cut across the road, fitted with every kind of obstruction. 
Each inch of the way was covered point-blank by unseen marks- 
men ; at every turn heavy artillery belched forth its fiery breath 
of grape and canister. Above, below, on all sides, crowds of 
human tigers glared from housetop and loop-holed casement upon 
the intrepid band, while, as they turned the corners which open 
upon the squares of the palace, surrounded by high walls, they 
had to encounter from many thousand rifles an iron hurricane of 
destruction and death." A bullet here strikes General Neill, and 
he falls to rise no more. But the brave men and their gallant 
leaders move steadily on, capturing guns and positions, till they 
reach the Kaiser Bagh — the King's Palace Garden — which they 
also capture. And here they try to collect and secure their 
wounded, and rest for the night, for they can go no farther. Alas ! 
many of their wounded, about whom they are so anxious, fell into 
the hands of the cruel enemy, the fate of some of whom was dread- 
ful. They were collected early in the night by these barbarians 
into one of the squares, and were there actually burned to deatli 
in the doolies, or hospital litters, in which they lay. 

Early the next day the troops resumed their terrible task. A long 
reach of the city still separated them from the Residency. Strong 
positions and lengthy streets must be won ere they are heard or 
seen by their anxious friends there. The distance has often been 
walked over in twenty minutes by the writer, but it took these 
brave men more than twelve hours of the fiercest fighting to 
accomplish it that day. This was the 25th of September. One 
of the staff thus describes what followed : " About eleven o'clock 
A. M. the people in the Residency could distinctly perceive an 
increased agitation in the center of the city, with the sound of 
musketry and the smoke of guns. All the garrison was upon the 
alert, and the excitement among many of the officers and soldiers 
was quite painful to witness. About half past one P. M. they 
could see many of the people of the city leaving it on the north 
side across the bridges, with bundles of clothes, etc., on their heads. 



TUE BESIDENCT BEACHED. 349 

Still their deliverers were not yet visible. At fcur P. M. a report 
spread that some of them could be seen, but for a full hour later 
nothing definite could be made out. At five o'clock volleys of 
musketry, rapidly growing louder and nearer, were heard, and soon 
the peculiar ring of a Minie ball over their heads told them theii 
friends could be only a gun-shot from them now. They could see 
the Sepoys firing heavily on them from the tops of the houses, but 
the smoke concealed them. Five minutes later and the English 
troops emerged where they could actually be seen, fighting their 
way up the street, and though some fell at every step, yet nothing 
could withstand the headlong gallantry of the men. The 78th 
Highlanders were in front, led in person by General Havelock. 
Once fairly seen, all doubts and fears regarding them were ended, 
and then the garrison's long pent-up feeling of anxiety and sus- 
pense burst forth in a succession of deafening cheers. From every 
pit, trench, and battery — from behind the sand-bags piled on shat- 
tered houses — from every post still held by a few gallant spirits — 
rose cheer on cheer, even from the hospital. Many of the wounded 
crawled forth to join in the glad shout of welcome to thohC who 
had so bravely come to their assistance. It was a moment r.ever 
to be forgotten." 

The shouting made the ladies rush out from the Tyekanahs, just 
in time to witness the Highlanders and Havelock, having borne 
down all before them, reach the Residency. The enthusiasm 
with which they were greeted baffles all description — tears, hur- 
rahs, every evidence of relief and joy, as they welcomed Havelock 
and the gallant men who had come in time to save them. Our 
picture but feebly depicts this thrilling scene, yet the heart of 
every humane person will easily imagine all that pen or pencil fails 
to portray. 

Soon the whole place was filled, the Highlanders shaking hands 
frantically with every body, and then these great, big, rough- 
bearded men, black with powder and mud, seized the little chil- 
dren out of the ladies' arms, and were kissing them, and passing 

them from one to another, with tears rolling down their cheeks, 
23 



350 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

thanking God that they had come in time to save them from the 
fate of those at Cawnpore. 

For eighty-seven days the Lucknow garrison had lived in utter 
ignorance of all that had taken place outside. Wives, who had 
long mourned their husbands as dead, were now suddenly restored 
to them — some of them had come as volunteer cavalry with Have- 
lock — and others, looking fondly forward to glad meetings with 
those near and dear to them, now for the first time learned that 
they were alone in the world. On all sides eager inquiries for 
relations and friends were made. Alas ! in too many instances 
the answer was a painful one. Sleep was out of the question, and 
the morning dawned upon the inquirers still asking for more 
information. 

It is excusable that you find them recording now, amid this joy 
of their rescue, as they realized the success of their protracted 
struggle, the proud consciousness of the defense that they had 
made against such fearful odds, in preserving not only their own 
lives, but the honor and lives of the ladies and children intrusted 
to their keeping. Now they learned at last that' they had not been 
forgotten. They were told what sympathy their fearful position 
had awakened in all noble hearts in England and America, and 
throughout the civilized world. The general order issued next day, 
in eloquent and beautiful terms, gave them official assurance of all 
this. 

" Havelock's hundred days " were ended in success, and that 
brave heart glowed with gratitude for the wonderful mercy that 
had helped him thus to struggle on to the end through the terrible 
tide of battle, disease, and death, to insure their safety. Now that 
it was accomplished, he acknowledged the divine help in the words 
of the Hebrew warrior : " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but 
unto thy name give glory." 

His gallant friend General Outram here assumed command, 
and in his dispatch he refers specially to a fact which shows that 
a delay of forty-eight hours more might have involved the destruc- 
tion of all in the Residency. He writes : "We found that they 



THE LADIES SAVED. 351 

(the Sepoys) had completed six mines in the most artistic manner 
— one of them from a distance of two hundred feet under our prin- 
cipal defensive works, which were ready for loading, and the firing 
of which must have placed the garrison entirely at their mercy. 
The delay of another day, therefore, might have sealed their fate." 
So near, apparently, did they . come to being made another 
" Cawnpore." 

The few native troops that had nobly and faithfully stood by 
them were well honored and rewarded. Ungud, their valiant mes- 
senger, received five hundred rupees for each letter he carried, 
quite a fortune for the worthy native. The spirit of these brave 
Sepoys, who had so long resisted unto blood, " faithful among the 
faithless," may be illustrated by a sad but touching incident, re- 
lated by Mr. Rees, and which occurred at the entrance of the 78th 
Highlanders on the day of the relief Coming with a rush on the 
Bailey Guard outposts, defended by the faithful Sepoys, and not 
knowing it to be within the Residency inclosure, or that these 
Sepoys were faithful, the Highlanders stormed it, and bayoneted 
three of the men, whom they mistook for rebels. The men never 
resisted, and when explanations ensued, and regret was expressed, 
one of them waved his hand, and crying, " Kootch purwanni — 
Never mind — it is all for the good cause ; welcome, friends ! " he 
fell and expired. 

General Havelock was too weak in men to attempt to bring out 
the garrison ; he had to remain shut up with them till the Com- 
mander-in-chief, Sir Colin Campbell, came to their assistance on 
the 22d of November. The Sepoys still kept up their cannonade, 
but at a more respectful distance, and the ladies no longer feared 
either storm or capture. But Havelock's vigor was now unmistak- 
ably on the wane. Symptoms of serious illness were developing. 
By the effort of a strong will he tried to think lightly of them, and 
was still actively engaged day and night ; but a " reduced ration 
of artillery bullock beef, chuppaties and rice " was poor nourish- 
ment for an invalid who had not even a change of clothing for the 
following forty days, the baggage being four miles off at the 



352 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Alumbagh. Bread, tea, coffee, sugar, soap, and all such articles, 
were then unknown luxuries there. The wretches outside still 
sustained their incessant din of shells and bullets, and raged in 
tens of thousands in the streets and occupied the buildings which 
all around commanded the Residency, They were as resolved as 
ever to destroy the garrison, while they must have been well aware 
that it could never escape from that position unless relieved by a 
powerful English army. 

But that army, though not large in numbers, was now on its 
way. Sir Colin Campbell had landed at Calcutta, and with the 
first five thousand men that arrived he started for Lucknow. 

On the 1 6th of November Sir Colin approached the city. 
Avoiding the crowded and barricaded streets, he took a course 
around by the Royal Park on the east, and, being on rising ground, 
his force, as they fought the enemy, could be seen from the Resi- 
dency. They were sternly resisted the whole day. The garrison 
eagerly watched the conflict. One person was most conspicuous ; 
he was mounted on a white horse, and seemed to be every- 
where. They all felt very anxious for this person, for they guessed, 
and rightly too, that he was the Commander-in-chief He ad- 
vanced upon the Residency by the Dilkoosha and Martiniere and 
the line of palaces ; but it required three days of fighting for him 
to accomplish his purpose. How fierce that fighting was may be 
imagined from a single item in the Commander-in-chief's dis- 
patch, wherein he says that within the limits of a single building, 
the Secunderbagh, and its garden, the bodies of two thousand 
Sepoys were counted. 

As soon as they left the Park and entered the city they were of 
course hidden from view, and terrible was the anxiety within the 
Residency for their success, and even their fate, as hour after hour 
went over, and the second, and even the third, day came and yet 
they could not see them. Nothing was known of them but the 
noise of the firing, the shouting, and the smoke of battle ; still 
they felt that they must be coming nearer to them, for these 
sounds gradually became more distinct. This was the moment 



MEETING- OF CAMPBELL, OUTBAM, AND RAVELOCK. 353 

chosen for that imposition upon the sympathies of the world, the 
story of " jFessie Brown " and her " Dinna ye hear the slogan ? " 
The heroine and the incident are alike fictitious ; but what a wide 
currency the story obtained ! Martin ascertained that it was 
originally a little romance, written by a French governess for the 
use of her pupils, which found its way into the Paris papers, thence 
to the Jersey Times, thence to the London Times, (December 12, 
1857,) and afterward appeared in many of the English and Ameri- 
can papers, and is to this day quoted as authentic. Yet the inci- 
dent had some foundation in fact, though not in the form in which 
the poet has presented it. The bagpipes were heard certainly, 
but not till the Highlander who played them had got into the 
Residency ; he was in among the first. The inspiration of the 
welcome set him going. As each party of the brave deliverers 
poured in they were greeted with loud hurrahs, which each gar- 
rison in the intrenchments would catch up, and so the cheers ran 
the rounds, and rose one wondrous shout to heaven. He who bore 
the bagpipes worked his way into this exulting mass of men, 
women, and children, and as he strode up and down and around 
the Residency he gave forth paens of triumph in the shrill and 
joyous notes of his instrument, adding, of course, to the enthu- 
siasm, and calling forth ardent repetitions of the wild delight of 
the occasion. Music never did more for the anxious human heart 
than was effected in that hour by those simple bagpipes. The 
sorrowful sighing of these prisoners of hope was suddenly turned 
into the joyous sense of deliverance ; and it was fitting that Scot- 
land's music should first thrill those hearts that Scotland's sons 
had been foremost to save. 

On the evening of the 1 7th the army of the Commander-in-chief 
had fought their way near enough for the garrison to co-operate 
with his fire and attempt a junction. Notwithstanding the balls 
were still flying, Havelock and Outram rode forth to meet their 
deliverer. And what a meeting was that ! The Scottish Chief, 
Sir Colin, grim with the smoke and dust of battle, " the good Sir 
James," as Outram was called, and the dying Havelock, with their 



354 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

respective staffs around them, met opposite the kmg's palace gate, 
about four hundred yards in front of the battered Residency, and 
there stood, hand grasped in hand, amid the roar of the cannon 
and the loud, glad cheers of their troops ! Mansfield was there, 
and Hope Grant, and gallant Peel, with Norman, Ewart, Great- 
hed, Sir David Baird, Adrian Hope, Gough, the Allisons, and 
scores of others, who had fought and suffered bravely to see 
that hour. All were in a tumult of joyous excitement. En- 
gland has tried to do justice to that great meeting by a magnif- 
icent picture of the scene. But how significant of their toils and 
dangers is the reflection that of the names I have mentioned all but 
about two of this group of Christian knights are in their graves 
to-day! Campbell and Outram rest in Westminster Abbey, Have- 
lock lies in the lonely Alumbagh, (he ought to sleep with his 
illustrious comrades,) and half the others repose beneath India's 
soil, on subsequent battle-fields, which had to be fought ere com- 
plete peace was conquered. 

The relief of the Residency was at once followed by its evacua- 
tion. The women and children required to be promptly removed 
from danger to a place of safety ; and, as this must be accomplished 
without risk to any of them, the intention had to be entirely dis- 
guised from the enemy, fifty thousand strong around them. The 
Commander-in-chief considerately intrusted the arrangement of this 
honorable duty to General Havelock ; it was the last service he 
would ever render, and most efficiently was it performed. The 
whole force was admirably handled, the fire of the Residency 
being sustained, and even their lights left burning till sunrise. 
At midnight of the 22d all was ready, and along a narrow, tortuous 
lane, (the only possible path,) protected on both sides by the out- 
posts, which, as the last of the column passed, were quietly with- 
drawn, " the pickets fell back through the supports ; the supports 
glided away through the intervals of the reserve ; the reserve, in- 
cluding the Commander-in-chief, silently defiled into the lane ; 
while the enemy, seeing the lights and fires burning, thought the 
Residency still occupied, and kept up on the south and west sides 



HAVEL OGK DYING. 355 

their usually desultory night-firing." Not a single mishap occurred, 
and, to the delight of their deliverers, not one soul that had left the 
Residency that dark night was missing, as the garrison, with the 
four hundred and seventy-nine ladies and children, found them- 
selves at sunrise on the morning of the 23d safe in the center of 
the whole English force, camped in the Dilkoosha Park, while the 
Residency, five miles away, the prison of their long agony, could be 
seen in the distance, swarming all over with the enraged Sepoys, 
who had just discovered, with the daylight, how completely they 
had been out-generaled ! 

The fresh air and green fields, the bread, butter, and milk, and 
clean table-cloths, and other comforts, which for many months they 
had not seen or tasted, are described as almost bewildering to the 
poor ladies and children, while the grateful hearts and tearful eyes 
of the officers who waited upon them so tenderly was a homage to 
their worth and sufferings which must have been very cheering to 
them. They were safe and well protected now. 

But, in a tent near by, the noble man who had so uncomplain- 
ingly endured more than his enfeebled health could bear, was sink- 
ing, now that his great work for them was done. He had been 
helped off his horse and laid in a dooley. General Havelock was 
seriously unwell. His gallant son, with one wounded arm hung in 
a sling, was sitting by his cot, reading the Holy Scriptures and 
praying with his father. He was full of gratitude for the rescue so 
gloriously accomplished, and had accepted with becoming modesty 
the marked attention paid to him on all sides. He had also just 
heard of the gratitude of his country, the thanks of his Queen, for 
his noble services, and the fact that she had miade him a Baronet, 
with a pension of ^1,000 per year. But he had higher honor and 
reward than this awaiting him, and in a few hours was to pass away 
to its enjoyment. His disease was dysentery, which had been for 
several days aggravated by the " bread want," so severely felt at 
the Residency. Every thing that medical science and human sym- 
pathy could effect was now done, but all in vain ; there was no 
remnant of strength to fall back upon, and the complaint had 



356 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

assumed its malignant form. He realized that his nour had come, 
and his work was done, and that now he had nothing more to do 
but to die. For that, too, he was ready. " The Resurrection and 
the Life" was beside him in that little tent, ready to pass with him 
through the valley and shadow of death. He feared no evil. Mes- 
sages to his dear ones were delivered, and his last thoughts were 
given to the Redeemer, whom he had served and loved so long. 
He would say, and repeat it, " I die happy and contented ! " To 
his eldest son, who waited upon him with such tenderness and 
loving attention, (though himself a wounded man and needing 
care,) he exclaimed, " My son, see how a Christian can die ! " 

General Outram, his illustrious comrade, asked to be permitted 
to see him. They had confronted danger together on many a hard- 
fought field, and death in all its reality was to be faced now. The 
Christian warrior looked up into the kindly, sympathetic counte- 
nance of his visitor, and said to him, " Sir James, for more than 
forty years I have so ruled my life that when death came I might 
face it without fear." Then pausing, as he realized that death had 
come, he added : " So be it. I am not in the least afraid. To die 
is gain !" 

On the evening of the 24th he "departed to be with Christ," 
realizing the literal truthfulness of the favorite lines, 

" My body with my charge lay down, 
And cease at once to work and live." 

He was buried amid the tears of those he saved, and his compan- 
ions in arms, on the following day, in the Alumbagh, five miles on 
the Cawnpore side of Lucknow. 

"There rest thee, Christian warrior, rest from the twofold strife: 
The battle-field of India, the battle-field of life ! 

******* 
Victorious first at Futtypore, victorious at Lucknow, 
The gallant chief of gallant men is more than conqueror now." 

We cannot conclude without referring to the loss of the garrison 
and the cost of their rescue. Of the 1,692 fighting men in the 
Residency on the 29th of June, the loss was 713 — including 49 



RECEPTION OF THE LADIES AT ALLAHABAD. 357 

officers— when they were finally relieved. To these are to be added 
19 ladies and 53 children killed, besides those wounded. Of General 
Havelock's force of 3,179 men, the total killed and wounded, besides 
76 ofScers, was 966, nearly a third of his force. The Commander- 
in-chief had 45 officers and 536 men killed and wounded ; so that 
the total casualties to rescue the Lucknow garrison amount to 121 
officers and 1,490 men. Adding the loss of the garrison, the entire 
number of killed and wounded was 170 officers, and 2,203 men. 

The ladies and children were safely escorted to Cawnpore, and 
thence to Allahabad. Word had been telegraphed in advance of 
their coming, and the whole city seemed to turn out and welcome 
them. Government officials, troops, natives, every body wanted to 
see and greet the ladies of the Lucknow garrison, for whose safety 
they had so long trembled. 

At length the train rolled into the station, and the thundering 
cheers that greeted them, and were over and over again repeated, 
was a welcome that few have ever received. They stepped out of 
the carriages, and the haggard, pale faces of many of them, with their 
evidence of suffering and their scanty raiment, all told a tale that 
brought the tears to many an eye. As the last of these brave 
women passed out of the station, and the sympathizing crowd dried 
their tears and looked after them, tbeir pent-up feelings found 
expression in response to an English soldier, who was holding on 
to a lamp-post, as, flinging his cap into the air, he sung out at the 
top of his voice, " One cheer more for our women, boys !" On the 
following day they went in a body to the church in Allahabad, and 
there returned thanks publicly to Almighty God for their most 
merciful preservation and rescue. 



358 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CAUSES AND FAILURE OF THE SEPOY REBELLION. 

'nr^HE hate and cruelty of these fearful scenes have now to be 
•*• accounted for. To what cause are we to ascribe them } 
Next to the facts of the great Rebellion, men have sought for the 
explanation of its origin. 

I. The earliest reason to account for it was that put forward by 
certain members of the British civil service — venerable men, who had 
long administered the rule of the East India Company, and reflected 
so exclusively its merely commercial and worldly spirit that they 
seemed to forget they were Christians, or from a Christian land. 
They so fully vindicated and illustrated their master's doctrine 
of "neutrality," as in effect to discountenance Christianity and 
favor idolatry. Of such men the slang used to be that they " had 
left their religion at the Cape of Good Hope, to be resumed there 
on their return to England." 

Such men had become Hindooized from long contact with idola- 
trous usages and ceremonies, almost verifying in regard to heathen- 
ism the reality of the lines, 

" Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
That to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
But seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 

They paid a certain deference to idol shrines, to caste prejudices, 
and heathenish customs ; and very decidedly discountenanced all 
attempts at Bible or tract distribution, or legislation which aimed 
at abolishing even the cruel rites of Hindooism. They discouraged 
the incoming of missionaries or their preaching, and, if public sen- 
timent would have permitted it, they would have persecuted and 
expelled them, as they once actually expelled Judson, and tried to 



ENGLAND'S MI8BEPBE8ENTATIVES. 359 

drive away Carey, Marshman, and Ward. Even their own coun- 
trymen were not welcome to enter India as traders or merchants. 
Up to the time when I reached it their ready nickname for all such 
persons was, " Interlopers." 

Long had they threatened that ruin would come if all such 
people as these were not kept out, and the inhabitants of India 
reserved for the exclusive manipulation of the East India Company 
and its servants. No one else was needed or desired there. These 
were the men who, thirty years ago, led the heathen to believe that 
" the English had really no religion." Well might they think so. 
As the mutiny developed, these conservatives looked round for 
some specific act to which they could triumphantly point the people 
of England as a verification of their predictions, and an adequate 
and valid reason for the Sepoy Rebellion. They found it in the 
fact that the Governor General, Lord Canning, (fresh from home 
and not yet tainted with their Christless "neutrality,") had so far 
forgotten the obligations of his high position before the people of 
India, that he had actually contributed money in aid of a Missionary 
Society ! 

By an American reader this statement must be thought simply 
ridiculous, and the writer be deemed trifling. But no, far from it ; 
we are in sober earnest. This was, in all seriousness, solemnly put 
forward before the British people and Parliament as the cause of 
the Rebellion by these " most potent, wise, and reverend seigneurs " 
of the East India Company ! They found a mouth-piece even in 
the House of Lords, in the person of one of their former associates, 
Lord Ellenborough, who rose in his place, and lifted his hands in 
horror as he announced the fact, and declared that nothing less 
than Lord Canning's recall could be considered an adequate pen- 
alty for so great a violation of the rules and traditions of the 
Honorable Court ! 

This " old Indian," who thus made a fool of himself, and slurred 
the Christianity of the very crown before him in the presence of 
what has been called " the most venerable legislative assembly in 
Christendom," was answered "according to his folly," not so much 



36o THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

by his brother Peers, or by Christian clergymen, as by a man who 
is no Christian at all. God stirred up the spirit of a Hindoo in 
India to reply to it, and that far more effectually than any one else 
could have done it. 

I have genuine pleasure in quoting this man's glowing words, 
and, from personal knowledge of him, I believe his utterance was 
the profound conviction of his heart. I commend the last para- 
graph of his speech to those who wish to know how one of the most 
intelligent men in India, speaking for himself and his fellows, re- 
gards Christian Missionaries. 

This enlightened native is a gentleman by the name of Baboo 
Duckinarunjun Mookerjee, Secretary of the British Indian Associa- 
tion, a native club of considerable influence, with head-quarters in 
Calcutta. In regard to those mistaken views put forward in the 
House of Lords, the Baboo, at the next meeting of the association 
in Calcutta, repudiated any such idea, as a reflection upon the people 
of India, who, he alleges, can discriminate as well as other men 
between a personal and an official act. He said, " Lord Ellen- 
borough, on the 9th of June last, in the House of Lords, was pleased 
to observe that the recent mutinies here are attributable to an ap- 
prehension on the part of the natives that the Government would 
interfere with their religion ; that the fact of Lord Canning's ren- 
dering pecuniary aid to societies which have for their object the 
conversion of the natives, operates detrimentally to the security of 
the British Indian Government, which must be maintained on the 
principles of Akbar, [a tolerant ruler,] but never could be main- 
tained on those of Aurungzebe, [an intolerant one,] and if it be a 
fact that the Governor General has subscribed to such societies, 
his removal from office would obviate the danger arising from the 
error. If the premises laid down by Lord Ellenborough be correct, 
there could be no two opinions as to the unfitness of Lord Canning 
to fill the vice-regal chair, and the urgent necessity of his Lord- 
ship's immediate dismissal from office ; but in considering so mo- 
mentous a question, it is requisite that the facts upon which Lord 
Ellenborough grounds his premises should be fairly inquired into, 



A HINDOO'S REPLY TO A BRITISH PEER. 36 1 

and no place is more appropriate to institute that inquiry than 
Hindustan, nor any assembly more competent to decide upon that 
subject than the one I have the honor to address. First, let us 
then inquire whether the present rebellion has arisen from any at- 
tacks, made or intended, against the religious feelings of the people 
by the administration of Lord Canning ? Secondly, What are the 
real circumstances that have caused this rebellion ? 

" Speaking, as I am, from the place which is the center of the 
scenes of those mutinies that have drawn forth the remarks of Lord 
Ellenborough, and possessing, as we do, the advantages of being 
identified in race, language, manners, customs, and religion with 
the majority of those misguided wretches who have taken part in 
this rebellion, and thereby disgraced their manhood by drawing 
their arms against the very dynasty whose salt they have eaten, to 
whose paternal rule they and their ancestors have, for the last one 
hundred years, owed the security of their lives and properties, and 
which is the best ruling power that we had the good fortune to 
have within the last ten centuries — and addressing, as I am, a 
society, the individual members of which are fully familiar with the 
thoughts and sentiments of their countrymen, and who represent 
the feelings and interests of the great bulk of her Majesty's native 
subjects — I but give utterance to a fact patent to us all, that the 
Government have done nothing to interfere with our religion, and 
thereby to afford argument to its enemies to weaken their allegiance. 

" The abolition of the diabolical practice of infanticide by drown- 
ing children in the Ganges, by the Marquis of Hastings, of the 
criminal rite of Suttee suicide, by Lord Bentinck, and the passing 
of other laws for the discontinuance of similar cruel and barbarous 
usages, equally called for by justice and humanity, by Governors 
General, (though they existed among us for ages,) never for a 
moment led us to suspect that our British rulers would interfere 
with our reHgion, or weaken the allegiance of any class of subjects 
in India. And is it to be supposed that Lord Canning's subscrip- 
tion to the Missionary Societies has ignited and fanned the awful 
fire, the flame of which now surrounds the fair provinces of Hin- 



362 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

dustan, and has changed the obedient and faithful native soldiers 
of the State into fiends who delight in plunder, massacre, and de- 
struction ? No, certainly not ; our countrymen are perfectly able to 
make a distinction between the acts of Lord Canning as a private 
individual, and his Lordship's doings as the Viceroy of her gracious 
majesty Queen Victoria. 

" Chiefs of all denominations, both Hindoo and Mohammedan, 
as well as the merchants and soldiers of both these races, possess 
enough of intelligence and shrewdness to know that what a person 
does in his ZatU Khass is quite a different thing to what he does in 
his wohdah; and Lord Ellenborough must have been misinformed 
as to the impression the Governor General's subscription to the 
Missionary Societies has produced in this country, when he sur- 
mised that that had occasioned the rebellion. 

"Aware of the weight that would be attached by the British pub- 
lic to the views expressed by that personage, I feel it incumbent on 
me to point out his Lordship's mistake. Then, as to the Mission- 
aries, a man must be a total stranger to the thoughts, habits, and 
character of the Hindoo population who could fancy that because 
the missionaries are the apostles of another religion, the Hindoos 
entertain an inveterate hatred toward them. Akbar of blessed 
memory, whose policy Lord Ellenborough pronounces as peculiarly 
adapted to the government of these dominions, (and which, no 
doubt, is so,) gave encouragement to the followers of all sects, re- 
ligions, and modes of worship, yaiigeers and AltmngJias bearing 
his imperial seal are yet extant, to show that he endowed lands and 
buildings for the Mohammedan musjids. Christian churches, and 
Hindoo devasloys. The Hindoos are essentially a tolerant people ; 
a fact which that sagacious prince did fully comprehend, appre- 
ciate, and act upon : and the remarks of Lord Ellenborough that 
Akbar's policy should be the invariable rule of guidance for British 
Indian Governors, is most correct — but in the sense I have just ex- 
plained — and should be recorded in golden characters on the walls 
of the Council Chamber. When discussing an Indian subject, it 
should always be remembered that this country is not inhabited 



ESTIMATE OF MI88I0NAEIE8 BY A HINDOO. 363 

by savages and barbarians, but by those whose language and litera- 
ture are the oldest in the world, and whose progenitors were en- 
gaged in the contemplation of the sublimest doctrines of religion 
and philosophy at a time when their Anglo-Saxon and Gallic con- 
temporaries were deeply immersed in darkness and ignorance. 
And if, owing to eight hundred years of Mohammedan tyranny and 
misrule, this great nation has sunk into sloth and lethargy, it has, 
thank God ! not lost its reason, and is able to make a difiference be- 
tween the followers of a religion which inculcates the doctrine that 
should be propagated at the point of the sword, and that which 
offers compulsion to none, but simply invites inquiry. However 
we may differ with the Christian Missionaries in religion, I speak 
the minds of this Society, and generally of those of the people, 
when I say that, as regards their learning, purity of morals, and 
disinterestedness of intention to promote our weal, no doubt is 
entertained throughout the land, nay, they are held by us in the 
highest esteem. European history does not bear on its record the 
mention of a class of men who suffered so many sacrifices in the 
cause of humanity and education as the Christian Missionaries in 
India ; and though the native community differ with them in the 
opinion that Hindustan will one day be included in Christendom, 
(for the worship of Almighty God in his Unity, as laid down in the 
Holy Vedas, is, and has been, our religion for thousands of years, 
and is enough to satisfy all our spiritual wants,) yet we cannot for- 
bear doing justice to the venerable ministers of a religion who, I 
do here most solemnly asseverate, in piety and righteousness alone 
are fit to be classed with those Rishees and Mohatmas of antiquity, 
who derived their support and those of their charitable boarding- 
schools from voluntary subscriptions, and consecrated their lives to 
the cause of God and knowledge. 

" It is not, therefore, likely that any little monetary aid that may 
have been rendered by the Governor General, in his private capaci- 
ty, to Missionary Societies, should have sown the germ of that re- 
cent disaffection in the native army which has introduced so much 
anarchy and confusion in these dominions." 



364 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

That will suffice. The East India Company is well, and forever, 
answered by one of its own Hindoo subjects. 

II. Men outside of India, imperfectly acquainted with its people 
and the condition of the English administration there, had their 
theory to account for the rebellion, and supposed that it was owing 
to causes, among which was the preference of the natives for some 
other rule — say that of the Russians, whose incoming would be 
hailed by them as a deliverance from a yoke which galled them. 
and the misrule of which was crushing them down. 

Here, too, let the natives speak for themselves. They know their 
own grievances best, and have no restraint upon their utterance. 
The few educated men among them have spoken. Any quantity 
of testimony might be given, but two or three will suffice. These 
men understand the difference of things ; know what good govern- 
ment, and personal security, and equal rights mean ; they appre- 
ciate fine roads, arrangements for irrigation, and provision for 
public instruction ; they value peace, and law, and progress ; and 
are well enough acquainted with their country's history to know 
that their land never had so much of all these as it has to-day. 
They know this, also, notwithstanding that they are equally alive 
to what they regard as the defects of the English rule, yet they 
have patience, and are aware that that too is fast improving in 
their interest. 

One hundred and seventy years ago France contended with 
England for commercial and military supremacy in Southern 
India, but England won the rich prize then, as she did at the 
beginning of this century, when she destroyed the embryo French 
State which Perron was erecting in North India, on the banks of 
the Jumna. The Marquis of Wellesley smoked the French out of 
India by a vigorous use of his artillery, and the Land of the Veda 
was saved, in the mercy of Heaven, from becoming a French col- 
ony, from which freedom, and the Bible, and the missionary would 
have been excluded for ages, while the wealth of the conquered 
people might have been employed to inflate French vanity and 
extend her bigoted misrule over Europe and the world. 



INDIA'S ESCAPE FROM FBENGH RULE. 365 

One of India's most intelligent sons, Baboo Bholanauth Chunder, 
remarks upon this escape of his country from French domination : 

" It is well that an end was put to this French State in embryo. 
The fickle and freakish Frenchman has no genius for consolidating 
an empire which India wants. If he had stepped into the shoes 
of the Great Mogul, India would have been brought up in sans- 
culottism, under a galling chain of gilded despotism. Under French 
rule the staid Hindoo would have been a strange animal, with 
many a vagary in his head. How little could their own distrac- 
tions have allowed Frenchmen the time to look after the welfare 
of two hundred millions of human beings. Doubtless the French 
acknowledge, but fail to act up to, the necessity of accommodating 
the institutions of government to the progress of information." 

He adds, as to the comparative value of the two civilizations 
which contended for supremacy in his country, " It may be ques- 
tioned whether there is not more tyranny in France than in India. 
The conquered Indian is happy to have no bit in his mouth — to 
speak out his grievances. It is necessary for us to appreciate cor- 
rectly the character either of the French or of the Russian. If it 
be the will of Providence to have a yoke upon the neck of our 
nation, our nation should, in the ripened maturity of its judgment, 
discriminate, and prefer the yoke of the English to be the least 
galling. Nothing less than British phlegm, and imperturbability, 
and constancy, and untiring energy, could have steadily prosecuted 
the task of consolidating the disjointed masses of India, and casting 
her into the mold of one compact nation. They want but 'the 
high thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy' to attach us to their 
rule with a feeling of loyalty that, not merely ' playing around the 
head, should come near the heart' " 

What the Hindoo mind thinks of its present masters, and of 
that possible Russian rule of which people outside of India some- 
times prognosticate, may be understood from the utterance of such 
a native journal as " The Som Prukash" which, in its issue for 
December, 1870, in an article on Russia and England, remarks : 

'* Other nations seem to think that the Indians are disaffected 
24 



566 THE LAND OJ^ THE VEDA. 

toward England, but there can be no greater mistake than this. 
That there is dissatisfaction is true, but that the rule of Britain 
should pass away is not the desire of any. It is the dissatisfaction 
that seeks to prevent arbitrary measures, and to establish a more 
large-hearted policy. If Russia or Germany depend at all upon 
our dissatisfaction, they will soon find proof to the contrary. 
Should there be war with Russia, all the inhabitants of India would 
zealously come forward to support the Government." 

Their preference for English rule, and their appreciation of its 
advantages, is equally if not more fully entertained on the western 
coast. Mr. Satyendra Nath Tagore, a cultivated Parsee of Bom- 
bay, speaks for his class of the population in the following enlight- 
ened language : 

" It is not for nothing that India has been placed under the 
British rule. It is impossible to think that her destinies have 
been ruled by blind, unsparing Fate, or that it is for the glory 
and power of England alone that such a wonderful bond of con- 
nection has been established by an inscrutable Providence between 
the two countries. There is one hope, one intense conviction 
from which no true patriot can escape ; that is, that England and 
India are to be a mutual blessing ; that our country, once famous 
in the world's history, is destined to be helped out of her present 
degeneracy and utter stagnation. And is there no reason for this 
hope .■' and are there no data to base this conviction upon .? What 
was India a few years ago, and what do we now see around us 1 
We see a marked progress, brought about by Western civilization. 
We see a nation domineered over by caste and idolatry — a nation 
of which the men are completely enslaved to custom, and the 
women kept down and tyrannized over by the men, by dint of 
sheer physical strength, which they cannot resist — a nation which 
has long ceased to be progressive, and of which inertia and station- 
ariness is the natural condition. Even this nation, opening its 
eyes to the enormous evils around it, is gradually awakening to 
the influences of the bright light of thought and knowledge, before 
which millions of false stars are fading away. India sank down 



YOUNG BENGAL'S OPINION OF CHBISTIANITY. 367 

under the weight of the accumulated corruption of ages ; foreign 
influences were requisite to arouse her. These are being felt 
throughout her length and breadth. A steady, though slow, prog- 
ress is perceptible. The tyranny of society is slowly succumbing 
to the gaining force of individuality and intellect. Superstition is 
losing its strongholds one after another. Ceremonial observances 
are being replaced by true principles of morality. There are many 
things still wanting, hideous defects to be remedied ; but let us 
work and hope for a brighter future. May India be grateful to 
England for the blessing she has been enjoying under her benign 
rule ! May England feel that India is a sacred trust and responsi- 
bihty, which cannot be thrown away ! " 

In the same spirit, but with even a wider and more candid range 
of moral vision, (all the more remarkable from such a source,) Baboo 
Keshub Chunder Sen of Calcutta tells the world what he and his 
Brahmo Somaj think of English rule, and the Christian missions 
which it protects. The Baboo says, (and I would commend his 
words to the consideration of some of his Christian (.?) and clerical 
admirers in New York and Boston, as a lesson which they certainly 
much need to learn :) 

" It cannot be said that we in India have nothing to do with 
Christ or Christianity. Have the natives of this country alto- 
gether escaped the influence of Christianity, and do they owe 
nothing to Christ .? Shall I be told by my educated countrymen 
that they can feel nothing but a mere remote historic interest in 
the grand movement I have described .? You have already seen 
how, in the gradual extension of the Church of Christ, Christian 
missions came to be established in this distant land, and what 
results these missions have achieved. The many noble deeds of 
philanthropy and self-denying benevolence which Christian mission- 
aries have performed in India, and the various intellectual, social, 
and moral improvements which they have eflected, need no flatter- 
ing comment ; they are treasured in the gratitude of the nation, 
and can never be forgotten or denied. That India is highly in- 
debted to these disinterested and large-hearted followers of Chnat 



368 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

for her present prosperity, I have no doubt the entire nation will 
gratefully acknowledge. Fortunately for India, she was not for- 
gotten by the Christian missionaries when they went out to preach 
the Gospel. While, through missionary agency, our country has 
thus been connected with the enlightened nations of the West 
politically, an all-wise and all-merciful Providence has intrusted its 
interests to the hands of a Christian sovereign. In this significant 
event worldly men can see nothing but an ordinary political phe- 
nomenon ; but those of you who can discern the finger of Provi- 
dence in individual and national history will doubtless see here a 
wise and merciful interposition. I cannot but reflect with grateful 
interest on the day when the British nation first planted their feet 
on the plains of India, and on the successive steps by which the Brit- 
ish empire has been established and consolidated in this country. 
It is to the British Government that we owe our deliverance from 
oppression and misrule, from darkness and distress, from ignorance 
and superstition. Those enlightened ideas which have changed 
the very life of the nation, and have gradually brought about such 
wondrous improvement in native society, are the gifts of that Gov- 
ernment ; and so, likewise, the inestimable boon of freedom of 
thought and action, which we so justly prize. Are not such con- 
siderations calculated to rouse our deepest gratitude and loyalty to 
the British nation, and her Majesty Queen Victoria } Her benefi- 
cent Christian administration has proved to us not only a political, 
but a social and moral blessing, and laid the foundation of our 
national prosperity and greatness, and it is but natural that we 
should cherish toward her no other feeling except that of devoted 
loyalty." — Carpenter s Six Months in India, Vol. II, p. 73. 

Such men, of course, deprecated the Sepoy Rebellion, and 
lament it to-day as the greatest mistake that their ignorant and 
fanatical countrymen could have made, and the success of which 
would have been the doom of India for ages. Bholanauth Chunder 
speaks the mind of every enlightened Bengalee Baboo when he 
says : 

" In their infatuation they entered upon a bubble scheme, the 



APPBEOIATION OF THE BENEFITS OF ENGLISH MULE. 369 

bursting of which no sane man could doubt. They raised the 
standard for national independence, and anticipated that event at 
least two centuries before its time. We have to learn much before 
we ought to hazard such a leap. India can no longer be expected 
to relapse into the days of a Brahmin ascendency or a Mahratta 
government. The advent of the Anglo-Saxon race was not merely 
fortuitous, but had been fore-ordained in the wisdom of Provi- 
dence. First of all, our efforts should be to shake off the fetters 
which a past age has forged for us ; to effect our freedom from 
moral disabilities ; and not to stake the well-being of the country 
on the result of a contest with veteran soldiers who have marched 
triumphant into Paris, Canton, and Candahar," 

Another Hindoo testimony is to the same effect, only stronger 
in its satisfaction with the results : 

" The mutiny was a fatal error ; it once more plunged the coun- 
try into the misrule of past ages. It jeopardized the vital interest 
of India, and was to have proved suicidal of her fate. The exit of 
the English would have undone all the good that is slowly paving 
the way to her regeneration. Rightly understood, to own the 
government of the English is not so much to own the government 
of that nation, as to own the government of an enlightened legisla- 
tion, of the science and civilization of the nineteenth century, of 
superior intelligence and genius, of knowledge itself Under this 
view, no right-minded Hindoo ought to feel his national instinct 
offended, and his self-respect diminished by allegiance to a foreign 
rule. The regeneration of his country must be the dearest object 
to the heart of every enlightened Hindoo ; and it must be perfectly 
evident to him that the best mode of attaining this end is by striv- 
ing to raise himself to the level of his rulers. What can the most 
patriotic Hindoo wish for better than that his country should, until 
its education as a nation is further advanced, continue part of the 
greatest and most glorious of empires, under a sovereign of the 
purest Aryan blood } " 

Baboo Chunder, in the first volume of his Travels of a Hindoo, 
having twice lately gone over the extent of Hindustan Proper, 



370 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

gratefully contrasts the present with the past in the peace, secu- 
rity, and prosperity of the people of the great Gangetic Valley, and 
ascribes it all to the beneficence of English rule. This impartial 
witness says : 

" The public works of Hindoos were for the comfort only of the 
physical man. The Mohammedans exhibit but the same care for 
the material well-being, without any progress made by humanity 
toward the amelioration of its moral condition. Far otherwise are 
the public works of the English. Their schools and colleges, lit- 
erary institutions, public libraries, museums, botanic gardens, are 
proofs of a greater intellectual state of the world than in any pre- 
ceding age. Supposing the English were to quit India, the benefi- 
cence of their rule ought not to be judged of by the external 
memorials of stone and masonry left behind them, but by the eman- 
cipation of our nation from prejudices and superstitions of long 
standing, and by the enlightened state in which they shall leave 
India. In the words of De Quincey, 'higher by far than the 
Mogul gift of limestone, or traveling stations, or even roads and 
tanks, were the gifts of security, of peace, of law, and settled 
order.' 

" Nothing afforded me so great a pleasure as to pass through a 
country of one wide and uninterrupted cultivation, in which paddy- 
fields, that have justly made our country to be called the granary 
of the world, extended for miles in every direction. No such pros- 
pect greeted the eyes of a traveler in 1758. Then the annual 
inroads of the Mahrattas, the troubles following the overthrow of 
the Mohammedan dynasty, frequent and severe famines, and viru- 
lent pestilences, had thinned the population, and reduced fertile 
districts to wastes and jungles. It is on record that previous to 
1793, the year of the English Permanent Settlement, one third of 
Lower Bengal lay waste and uncultivated. Never, perhaps, has 
Bengal enjoyed such a long period of peace without interruption 
as under British rule. From the day of the battle of Plassey no 
enemy has left a footprint upon her soil, no peasant has lost a 
sheaf of grain, and no man a single drop of blood. Under security 



TESTIMOmES TO OHBlSTIANITT. 371 

against an enemy from abroad, population has increased, cultiva- 
tion has been extended, the country has become a great garden, 
and landed property has risen in value more than forty-fold in one 
province, nineteen-fold in another, and more than ten-fold through- 
out all Lower Bengal. 

" The Mahratta freebooter, the murderous Patan, and the Jaut 
bandit, have settled down to an agricultural life, and honest labor 
has superseded lawless rapine as an occupation." — Vol. I, p. 421, 
etc. 

I can add my personal testimony to this general peace and secu- 
rity. Traveling for nearly ten years in a palankeen, alone and 
unprotected in the hands of the natives, I have slept in their 
serais and under their trees, often fifty miles from any white man, 
yet I moved in perfect security, was never molested, and never lost 
the value of a cent in all my peregrinations. So profound is the 
confidence in the power of law and the care of the Government, 
that ladies travel alone in this way every night in the year without 
hesitation or anxiety. Such is the security of person and property 
under English rule in India. It never was so before ; and every 
honest and candid mind should give them credit for what they have 
there accomplished. The Hindoos do so frankly, and have even tried 
to make capital out of the wonderful fact, to the credit of their own 
system of idolatry, in the following singular fashion, as related by 
General Sleeman in his " Recollections." He says : 

"A very learned Hindoo told me in Central India that the 
oracle of Mahadeva (the Great God) had been at the same time con- 
sulted at three of his greatest temples — one in the Deccan, one in 
Rajpootana, and one in Bengal — as to the result of the govern- 
ment of India by Europeans. A day was appointed for the 
answer, and when the priest came to receive it, they found Maha- 
deva (Shiva) himself, with a European complexion, and dressed in 
European clothes. He told them 'that their European govern- 
ment was in reality nothing more than a multipHed incarnation of 
himself, and that he had come among them in this shape to pre- 
vent their cutting each other's throats, as they had been doing for 



372 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

some centuries past ; that these, his incarnations, appeared to have 
no religion themselves, in order that they might be the more im- 
partial arbitrators between the people of so many different creeds 
and sects who now inhabited the country ; that they must be 
aware that they never had before been so impartially governed, 
and that they must continue to obey these governors, without 
attempting to pry further into futurity or the will of their gods.' " — 
Vol. II, p. 241. 

Thus Brahmos, Bengalees, Parsees, and Hindoos, the educated, 
the agriculturists, and even the idolaters themselves, admit the 
mighty change, and rejoice in it. Instances are even found where 
candid men among them, and even Brahmins, will go further than 
all these have gone, as in the recent case at Arcot and its medical 
mission. 

A reading-room had been opened at Madnapilly. At the dedi- 
cation, the Rev. Jacob Chamberlain delivered an address, at the 
close of which a Brahmin requested permission to make some 
remarks. Without the least conjecture of what he was going to 
say, he was allowed to commence, when he proceeded to deliver a 
remarkable eulogy on the missionaries. He compared them to 
the mango tree, which, however beaten, and wounded, and stripped 
of its fruit, still goes on, year by year, to yield its wholesome fruit. 
He dwelt with enlargement and unction on this subject, and then 
added as follows : 

" Now what is it makes him do all this for us .-• It is Ms Bible. 
I've looked into it a good deal at one time and another in the dif- 
ferent languages I chance to know. It is just the same in all lan- 
guages. The Bible — there is nothing to compare with it in all our 
sacred books for goodness, and purity, and holiness, and love, and 
for motives of action. Where did the English-speaking people get 
all their intelligence, and energy, and cleverness, and power } It 
is their Bible that gives it to them. And now they bring it to us 
and say, ' This is what raised us ; take it and raise yourselves.' 
They do not force it upon us, as the Mohammedans used to their 
Koran ; but they bring it in love, and translate it into our 



THE ENEMIES OF ENGLAND IN INDIA. 373 

languages, and lay it before us, and say, ' Look at it, read it, exam- 
ine it, and see if it is not good.' Of one thing I am convinced : 
do what we will, oppose it as we may, it is the Christian's Bible 
that will, sooner or later, work the regeneration of this land." 

The missionary adds, " I could not but be surprised at this testi- 
mony thus borne. How far the speaker was sincere I cannot tell ; 
but he had the appearance of a man speaking his earnest convic- 
tions. Some three years ago I had attended, in his zenana, his 
second wife, a beautiful girl, through a dangerous attack, and I 
knew that he felt very grateful ; but I was not prepared to see him 
come out, before such an audience, with such testimony to the 
power and excellence of the Bible. My earnest prayer is, that not 
only his intellect may be convinced, but that his heart may be 
reached by the Holy Spirit, and that he may soon become an ear- 
nest follower of Jesus." 

These quotations, which are rather lengthy, are of high signifi- 
cance, as showing what is the condition of multitudes of the think- 
ing classes of India, and what changes are imminent in that mag- 
nificent land, when leading men can be found thus to stand forth 
before their countrymen and utter such words. To all this can be 
added that England has given India the printing press, the tele- 
graph, the iron horse, the Ganges canal, (which irrigates 3,380,000 
acres of land, and makes famine impossible in the Doab,) and that 
these improvements are constantly on the increase. Allowing for 
her time and the circumstances, she has done wonders for the land 
she rules, and the immense majority of the people knew this well, 
and had no sympathy for, and lent no aid to, the Sepoy Rebellion, 
for they did not desire a change. 

But England had her enemies. The Mohammedans generally, 
the Fakirs, most of the Brahmins, the Thugs, and the lawless and 
criminal classes, to a man hate her. These together amounted to 
millions. Circumstances gave them an imperial name for a rallying 
cry, a Peishwa's influence and a Sepoy instrumentality for the 
working power, and they made wonderful use of the peculiar com- 
bination. But why did they single themselves out, and in the 



374 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

name of the people of India, which the immense majority never 
gave them the sHghtest authority to use, commence the work of 
extermination ? We have already given the reasons which influ- 
enced the Mogul Court, the Nana Sahib, the Mohammedans, and 
the Fakirs. But there were other reasons which account for the 
Brahminical interest in the matter, as well as that of the Thugs 
and the lawless classes, which have not yet been presented, and a 
knowledge of which is essential to a full and complete view of the 
motives which originated the fearful combination against Chris- 
tianity, and the English power which protected it. 

Slowly, but surely, the better portion of the British administra- 
tors were urging on reforms and legislation in the interests of 
humanity. They had much to contend with in their noble aims 
between, on the one hand, the old civilians of the Company, who 
were still in the higher posts of the service, and on the other, from 
the men whose power and emoluments were derived from usages 
and institutions which they were striking down one by one. The 
abolition of female infanticide was allowed to pass with little re- 
sistance, because it brought no profit to priest or Fakir. But it was 
different with the far greater crime of deliberately roasting alive 
the beautiful and wealthy ladies of the land who had the misfor- 
tune to become widows, for there the ceremonies were splendid, 
the Brahmin exercised the height of awful power, and his per- 
quisites were larger than in any other ceremony of his faith. 

This extraordinary and (save in India) unparalleled crime, re- 
duced to a system, sanctioned by their religion, and practiced for 
ages, is so wonderful in itself and its circumstances that the West- 
ern reader will desire to be more fully informed of its character, 
and the motives under which it was inflicted and endured, than 
he could be by a mere passing allusion, so we pause here to 
illustrate and describe it. 

The suttee commemorated in this steel engraving took place in 
the neighborhood of Baroda, in the dominions of the Guicowar, 
during the period that Sir James Carnac was English Resident 
(Embassador) at that Court. The sketch was made and the whole 




^ 




SUTTEE WITHOUT VEDIG SANCTION. 377 

circumstance described, by Captain Grindley, as it was one of un- 
usual interest. The suttee was a young Brahmanee woman. On 
her intention becoming known to the Resident, he went at once to 
her house with the humane intention of persuading her to abandon 
her purpose. Failing to produce any impression, the Resident 
waited on the ruling Prince, who kindly undertook to add his per- 
suasion, but he was equally unsuccessful. Determined to prevent 
her burning herself, he surrounded her premises with his troops. 
He offered her the means of subsistence, and urged the duties she 
owed her family. The widow remained unmoved and unconvinced. 
On being told she would not be allowed to ascend the funeral pile, 
she drew a dagger from the folds of her dress, and, with all the 
vehemence that passion could add to fanaticism, declared that her 
blood — the blood of a Brahmin woman — should be upon the soul 
of him who offered to prevent her performing her duty to her hus- 
band. Intimidated, the Guicowar with his retinue withdrew. The 
unhappy woman rushed away to the river brink, and there, aided 
by her friends and the Brahmins, she quickly went through the 
ablutions and prescribed ceremonies, and ascended the steps to the 
fatal spot — immediately behind the domed arch in the engraving — 
and threw herself into the midst of the flames. 

Christian women will wish to understand the reasons that could 
thus so strangely and determinately overcome, in one of their sex — 
a young and beautiful woman — the love of life, of friends, and of 
children, and lead her to dare death in one of its most awful forms, 
in obedience to what she regarded as a supreme duty. 

Of suttee, or widow burning, the origin is unknown. But it 
must be very ancient, for it is alluded to by Diodorus Siculus as 
being then an established custom. Such a horrid rite should cer- 
tainly be able to show the highest authority for itself According- 
ly, the Brahmins of India have asserted that the Vedas, which they 
hold to be then- most ancient and divine writings, have expressly 
required this last evidence of a wife's devotion to her deceased lord. 
So long as these writings were unknown to the outside world, they 
might make their assertion with safety. But of late years Chris- 



378 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

tian men have mastered the ancient Sanscrit, and have read the 
Vedas, and demanded from the Brahmins the proof of a statement 
under which milHons of women have been foully murdered during 
the past twenty-five hundred years. The depth of their villainy has 
been revealed by the appeal made to the highest authority of their 
own religion. The honor of demolishing the last Brahminical pre- 
text for regarding suttee as an orthodox Hindoo practice belongs 
to Horace Hayman Wilson. In a paper read by the learned pro- 
fessor before the Royal Asiatic Society on February 4, 1854, he 
proved that the passage — and it was the solitary text from all the 
Vedas that the Brahmins could bring forward in its defense — the 
passage quoted had actually been corrupted by the substitution of 
a single letter, which changed the whole sense, ag7ieh for agreh, the 
meaning being thereby perverted from, " let them [the widows] go 
up into the dwelling',' to " let them go up into the fire" — the r 
changed to n made this difference ; and these cruel men were re- 
sponsible for the flagrant corruption ! Professor Wilson added, 
that he was supported in his opinion by Dr. Max Miiller, and that 
Aswalayana, the author of the Grihya Sutras — a work little inferior 
in authority to the Vedas themselves — actually designates the 
proper person to lead the widow away at the conclusion of the 
funeral rites ; so that so far from demanding her immolation, the 
text inferentially enjoins the widow's preservation. Suttee, there- 
fore, with all its antiquity, is proved by the Vedas to be, like female 
infanticide, an accursed invention of modern Hindooism. 

Next to the Vedas, the " Institutes of Menu " are the highest 
authority to a Hindoo conscience. I have carefully read this 
entire code of laws ; but not one obligation to such a rite as suttee 
is to be found in it. The Brahmins have not dared to reply to the 
learned professor. They assert, of course, that it is recommended 
in the Shasters and Puranas ; but these are all of more recent 
origin, and are far below the paramount authority of the Vedas, 
and no serious doctrine can be built on them alone ; so that they 
stand convicted of teaching for doctrines novelties which are only 
"the commandments of men," like the Jews of old, or the Romanists 



MODERN EIND00I8M ALONE DEMANDS SUTTEE. 379 

of our own day. Exactly as the present Pope has done, when, 
eighteen hundred years after the canon of Scripture was closed, he 
dared to invent a new doctrine — that of the Immaculate Con- 
ception of the Virgin Mary — and would fain make its belief bind- 
ing on the consciences of Catholics, even so have these Brahmins 
acted at distances almost as great from the date of their own 
Vedas. 

Every suttee, therefore, has been without what even they regard 
as the divine sanction, which alone could ordain it. Christian 
Orientalists and missionaries have pressed this position, to the 
utter discomfiture and confusion of these guilty Brahmins. 

But while the Vedas and the Code are thus entirely silent, and 
even lay down the laws by which a widow's life is to be guided, the 
inferior authority of modern Hindooism — and any thing is " mod- 
ern " in their view which dates within two thousand years of this 
time — are particular and definite enough, in prescribing the bar- 
barous rites under which she is urged to yield her delicate body to 
the devouring flames ; so that upon this fraud on the faith of 
India has been built up the greatest victory that priestcraft has 
ever achieved over the natural feelings and instincts of mankind in 
any age or nation. 

The words of the Puranas, which commend this dreadful rite, 
are as follows : " The wife who commits herself to the flames with 
her husband's corpse shall equal Arundhoti, [the exalted wife of 
Vashista,] and dwell in Swarga, [heavenly bliss.] As many hairs 
as are on the human body, multiplied by threescore and fifty lakhs 
[each lakh, 100,000] of years, so many years shall she live with him 
in Swarga. As the snake-catcher forcibly draws the serpent from 
his hole in the earth, so, bearing her husband from hell, she shall 
with him enjoy happiness. Dying with her husband, she purifies 
three generations — her father and mother's side and husband's side. 
Such a wife, adoring her husband, enters into celestial felicity with 
him — greatest and most admired ; lauded by the choirs of heaven, 
with him she shall enjoy the delights of heaven while fourteen 
Indras reign." 



380 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

In the event of her husband dying while absent from her, pro- 
vision is made for her suttee in the following words of the Brah- 
ma-Purana : " If the husband be out of the country when he dies, 
let the virtuous wife take his slippers, or any thing else that 
belongs to his dress, and, binding them or it upon her breast, after 
purification, enter a separate fire." The same Purana adds : 
" While the pile is preparing, tell the faithful wife of the greatest 
duty of woman. She is alone loyal and pure who burns herself 
with her husband's corpse. Having thus fortified her resolution, 
and full of affection, she completes the Pragashita, and ascends to 
Swarga." 

The circumstances are defined in which widows are excused 
from the obligation of suttee. For example, if a woman has re- 
cently become a mother, or expects soon to be, she may hold her- 
self exempted ; yet even she is at liberty, thirty days after child- 
birth, to assert her fidelity by dying amid the flames. 

In case a Hindoo widow decides not to burn, then these priestly 
law-makers have prescribed her future condition under degrading 
obligations, that often prove but a little less terrible than death 
itself; but of this we shall speak more fully when we come to 
describe the condition to which Hindoo law reduces the afiflicted 
widows of that land. Before considering the motives of this fear- 
ful sacrifice, and the extent to which it has prevailed, we will place 
before our readers a description of the rite of suttee as it is usually 
performed. 

The husband is dead. In India the body must be disposed of 
within twelve hours. In the tumult of her grief, the Brahmins and 
friends wait upon the distracted widow to learn her intentions. 
There is no time for reflection or second thought. Within an 
hour it is usually settled. She agrees to mingle her ashes with 
her lord's. Opium or strong liquor is given to sustain her cour- 
age. Before the word is spoken the decision is with herself ; but, 
once consenting to die, she may not recall her words. Millions, 
of course, have expressed a trembling preference for life, even with 
all its future gloom to them ; but multitudes have consented at 



THE MODE OF SUTTEE. S^l 

once to burn, and, even in advance of being asked, they have, in 
the first spasm of their bereavement, uttered the fatal and irrevo- 
cable cry, " Szith! stith !" Orders are at once issued for the erec- 
tion of the fatal pile, and the accustomed ceremonies ; the widow, 
too, has to be prepared. Friends sometimes, with more or less 
sincerity, try to dissuade her from her purpose ; but all ner relig- 
ious convictions and priestly advisers urge on the poor, infatuated 
— perhaps intoxicated — woman to her doom. On the banks of the 
sacred river, while she bathes in the Ganges, a Brahmin is coolly 
reading the usual forms. She is now arrayed in bridal costume, 
but her face is unvailed, and her hair unbound and saturated with 
oil, and her whole body is perfumed. Her jewels are now added, 
and she is adorned with garlands of flowers. Thus prepared, she 
is conducted to the pile, which is an oblong square, formed of four 
stout bamboos or branches fixed in the earth at each corner. 
Within those supports the dry logs are laid from three to four feet 
high, with cotton rope and other combustibles interlaced. Chips 
of odoriferous wood, butter, and oil are plentifully added, to give 
force and fragrance to the flames. The ends above are interwoven 
to form a bower, and this is sometimes decked with flowers. The 
husband's body has been already laid upon it. In the south of 
India the fire is first applied, and the widow throws herself into 
the burning mass ; but the more general way is not to apply the 
fire till she has taken her position. The size of the pile is regu- 
lated by the number of widows who are to be burned with the 
body. Cases are well known, like the one at Sookachura, near 
Calcutta, where the pile was nearly twelve yards long, and on it 
eighteen wives, leaving in all over forty children, burned them- 
selves with the body of their husband. 

When the widow, thus prepared, reaches the pile, she walks 
around it, supported if necessary by a Brahmin. She then distrib- 
utes her gifts, including her jewels, to the Brahmins and her friends, 
but retains her garlands. She now approaches the steps by which 
she is to mount the pile, and there repeats the Sancalpa, thus : " On 
this month so named — that I may enjoy with my husband the 

25 



382 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

felicity of heaven, and sanctify my paternal and maternal progeni- 
tors, and the ancestry of my husband's father — that expiation may 
be made for my husband's offenses — thus I ascend my husband's 
pile. I call on you, ye guardians of the eight regions of the world, 
sun and moon, air, fire, ether, earth, and water, my own soul, Yama, 
[god of the dead,] day, night, and twilight ! And thou, conscience, 
bear witness, I follow my husband's corpse on the funeral pile ! " 

She then moves around the pile three times more, while the 
Brahmins repeat the Muntras — the texts on burning already quoted, 
and others — and then ascends to the corpse, and either lies down 
by its side, or takes its head in her lap. In some places ropes 
are thrown over to bind the living to the dead, or long bamboos 
are bent down upon them both, and the ends held firm by attend- 
ing Brahmins. Sometimes she is left untied and loose. All is 
now ready : her eldest son, if she have one — if not, the nearest male 
relative — stands ready to discharge the cruel office of executioner 
by igniting the pile at the four corners quickly. The whole struct- 
ure instantly blazes up, and the poor lady is at once enveloped 
m a sheet of flame. Musical instruments strike up, the Brahmins 
vociferously chant, the crowd shout " Hari-bal ! Hari-bal ! " [call 
on Hari — a name of the god Vishnu,] so that her moans or shrieks 
are drowned in the infernal din raised around her. 

Just at this period of the proceedings is the dreadful moment when 
woman's courage has so often failed her, and nature has proved too 
strong for fanaticism. If not at once overwhelmed or suffocated, 
even though she knows that her attempt to escape will be resisted 
as a duty by her own friends, who would regard her as an outcast, 
the victim not unfrequently, when left untied, springs off the burn- 
ing mass among the spectators and piteously pleads for life. 
Alas ! it is too late ; there is no mercy for her now ! She is at 
once struck down by a sword or a billet of wood, and flung back 
again on the pile, her own son having been known to be one of 
the most forward to tie her hands and feet for this purpose. 

The writer remembers to have heard of a case at Benares, where 
the poor woman was actually saved by a sudden and singular 



THE EXTENT TO WHICH SUTTEE HAS PREVAILED. 383 

thought of the English magistrate, a young gentleman of the name 
of Harding. On the death of the Brahmin, Mr. Harding was suc- 
cessful in persuading the widow not to burn ; but twelve months 
after she was goaded by her family into the expression of a wish 
to burn with some relic of her husband preserved for the purpose. 
The pile was prepared for her at Ramnugger, two miles above 
Benares, on the other side of the Ganges. She was not well se- 
cured on the pile, and as soon as she felt the fire she jumped off 
and plunged into the river. The people ran after her along the 
bank ; but the current carried her toward Benares, where a police 
boat put off and took her in. Her oiled garments had kept her 
afloat. The police took her to the magistrate, but the whole city 
of Benares was in an uproar at the rescue of a Brahmin's widow 
from the funeral pile. Thousands surrounded Mr. Harding's house, 
and the principal men of the city implored him to surrender the 
woman ; among the rest was her own father, who declared that he 
could not support his daughter, and that she had, therefore, better 
be buined, as her husband's family would not receive her. The 
uproar was quite alarming to a young man, who felt all the re- 
sponsibility upon himself in such a fanatical city as Benares, with 
a population of three hundred thousand people. He long argued 
the point with the crowd, urging the time that had elapsed, and the 
unwillingness of the woman, but in vain ; until at length the thought 
struck him suddenly, and he said that the sacrifice was mani- 
festly unacceptable to their god — that the sacred river itself had 
rejected her, as she had, without being able to swim, floated down 
two miles upon its bosom, in the presence of them all ; and it was, 
therefore, clear that she had been rejected ! Had she been an ac- 
ceptable sacrifice, after the fire had touched her the river would 
have received her ! This Hindoo reason satisfied the whole crowd. 
The father said, after this unanswerable argument, he would re- 
ceive his daughter. So the poor woman was saved. 

The question has been raised. To what extent has suttee pre- 
vailed .'' It is very difficult to reach even an approximate reply to 
this inquiry. Lord Bentinck's efforts for the abolition of the rite 



384 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

led to the possession of the only reliable statistics that we have 
upon the subject. From these the rest must be inferred. The 
cruel custom has been almost restricted to the affluent and higher 
orders, as the poor are unable to bear the expense ; so that it has 
been the most exalted, wealthy, and beautiful ladies of the land who 
have thus been immolated. 

From statistics obtained by the magistrates of the district around 
Calcutta prior to 1829, a published list gives fifty-four cases in the 
months of May and June, 1812, where sixty-nine women, of ages 
from sixteen to sixty, were burned with these fifty-four dead bodies ; 
leaving altogether one hundred and eighty-one children, who were, 
as in all such cases, thus deprived of both parents at once. An- 
other list for the region within thirty miles of Calcutta, gives two 
hundred and seventy-five known cases for the year 1803. In the 
Bengal presidency, in the year 18 17, there were seven hundred and 
six cases recorded — nearly two each day for that part of India 
alone. In ten years, from 181 5 to 1825, these lists, for the locali- 
ties where English magistrates took note of suttees, show that five 
thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven widows were thus immo- 
lated These are only the more public instances coming to the 
knowledge of the magistrates within the limited portion of India 
then directly ruled by England. But what of those of all the rest 
of the country, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin } And, if they 
could be numbered and known, then, to obtain the sum total, you 
have to multiply them by the two thousand five hundred years dur- 
ing which these unwarranted and fiendish cruelties have been prac- 
ticed on gentle women before the face of heaven in India! The 
blood of these millions of women has been crying to God from the 
ground all that time, against the Brahmins of Hindustan. 

The origin of suttee, some have supposed, might be found in the 
cruel jealousy of husbands, reaching thus beyond the grave ; while 
others refer it to the tradition that it was adopted as an expedient 
for the preservation of men's lives. Doctor Chever, in his recent 
work on Indian Medical Jurisprudence, traces the custom to this 
orisfin. He brings forward authorities to show that the Brahmins 



THE MOTIVES OF SUTTEE. 385 

themselves invented the law as a means of self-protection against 
their wives. Before its introduction, the wives were in the habit of 
avenging themselves on their husbands for neglect and cruelty by 
mixing poison with their food ; and at last things came to such a 
height that the least matrimonial quarrel resulted in the husband's 
death. An easier remedy for the evil might have been found in 
compelling the wife to eat out of the same dish as the husband, but 
this would have involved too wide a departure from the customs of 
society ; and it must be admitted that there is a peculiar refine- 
ment of cruelty in the expedient adopted, which would commend 
itself to the Asiatic mind. The Brahmins thus gave the matron 
an interest in the preservation of her lord's life, by decreeing that 
her ashes should mingle with his. If this were its origin, then the 
deepest insult was added to the most cruel wrong of which woman 
can be made the victim, when thus surrendered to a false religion, 
and into the hands of men as oppressive as their faith. 

The motives which have perpetuated the rite are more easily 
found. So far as the priestly Brahmin is concerned, he has a 
direct pecuniary interest in the existence and increase of the cruel 
custom. Brahmins officiating at suttees are always well rewarded, 
both by fees and gifts ; and quarrels among themselves about their 
earnings are no novelty. The family of the immolated woman are 
taught that to them belong the invisible and spiritual blessings of 
the suttee — that this doomed widow's agonies are to expiate the 
foulest sins of them and of her husband, and lift them all to heav- 
enly bliss. The reader will remember the Puranas already quoted, 
where this is expressly taught. Hence the eagerness with which 
her consent to become a suttee is sought, and the barbarity which 
helps on, and even enforces, her destruction when her resolution has 
failed. The motives of the poor lady herself are still more mani- 
fest. There is, first of all, her obedience to her religious obliga- 
tions. Her faith, like that of the Romanist, must be an un- 
questioning faith. Woman in India seems never to have thought 
of looking behind this Brahminical teaching, and demanding a 
" Thus saith the Lord " for the peculiar woes to which she submits. 



386 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Then there is the appeal to her love as well as her duty. She is 
told, and her uninstructed soul believes the lie, that her husband 
needs the attendance and care in the other world which she lav- 
ished upon him here ; nay, more, that he is actually sufifering for 
want of it. Her terrified imagination is appealed to, and he is pict- 
ured in a fearful intermediate hell — the counterpart of the Romish 
doctrine of Purgatory — out of which her merits alone can lift him ; 
and her loving heart urges her to the great effort, which is to save 
and bless him, and herself with him. Again, there is the motive 
of fame. By it she can demonstrate the perfection of her conjugal 
devotion ; she rises from obscurity, before her friends and the world, 
to the eminence of a heroine, a saint, a savior ; she avoids a life of 
insult and misery, and the splendid monument on the spot where 
she suffers will keep her name and memory before her people in 
future ages. 

I was intimate with a family in India, the head of which, a phy- 
sician, gave the following description of a suttee at which he was 
actually present. It was in the city of Lahore, in June 1839, and 
was witnessed by this gentleman and some other Europeans. The 
occasion was the burning of the body of the Maharajah Runjeet 
Singh — he who was commonly called the " Lion of the Punjab," 
and who was the last Oriental sovereign that wore the great Koh- 
i-noor diamond. (The father of the Prince represented on page 47.) 
On account of his special orders, the funeral pile was composed of 
an unusual quantity of the precious sandal-wood. It was also made 
large enough for his eleven wives to burn with his body. Early in 
the morning, an immense concourse attending to witness the cere- 
mony, the body of the Maharajah, decorated and wrapped in Cash- 
mere shawls, was brought out from the palace and the procession 
formed, the four Ranees (Queens) in order, unvailed, sitting in open 
palanquins, followed by the seven other wives on foot, barefooted 
— some of them, the doctor declared, being not more than four- 
teen or fifteen years old. Then came the court, the officials, the 
military, and the crowd. The ceremonies performed, the body was 
lifted to the top of the great pile ; then the four Ranees ascended 



INSTANCES OF SUTTEE. 387 

in the order of their rank, seating themselves at the head ; the other 
seven placed themselves around the feet. The chief widow, now sit- 
ting on the funeral pile, apparently as calm as any American mother 
on her dying bed, called to her Khuruk Singh, the son, and Dhian 
Singh, the favorite minister, of the Maharajah, and, placing the dead 
king's hand first in the hand of the royal heir, and then in the hand 
of the powerful minister, made them swear to be mutually faithful. 
They then retired, and a strong, thick mat of reeds was placed 
around and over the ladies, and oil plentifully poured upon it. There 
they cowered in silent expectation of the fatal moment The brand 
was applied quickly, and the roaring flames leaped up and enveloped 
them, and in fifteen minutes nothing remained of the eleven beau- 
tiful women but a heap of bones and ashes. Preparation was now 
made to convey part of their remains to the Ganges. Some of the 
bones and ashes of each were placed in urns ; these were put in 
separate "palanquins richly decorated, and attended with the same 
pomp and splendor as if the Maharajah and his wives were still 
alive. Surrounded by guards and attendants, and accompanied by 
costly presents, such as shawls, decorated elephants and horses, 
with money, etc., for the Brahmins, the procession passed through 
the Delhi gate, amid the last royal salute from the fort and ramparts 
of the city. Here the minister and chiefs returned, leaving the 
remains and presents to proceed under the care of the military. 
The Brahmins received the whole on its arrival at the Ganges. 
The bones and ashes they put into the river, the valuables they 
divided among themselves, and the guard returned. The whole 
ceremony was one of the most extravagant ever seen in India, 
and must, Dr. Honiberger thinks, have cost several millions of 
rupees. 

That the subject maybe fully understood, I will add two cases of 
suttee wtiere the victims were more than usually willing, and exhib- 
ited a resolution that will surprise the reader. The first is de- 
scribed by an intelligent young native, who was the nephew of the 
lady burned. He gives the facts from his Hindoo stand-point, yet 
with much simplicity and candor. 



388 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

He says : " Fearing intervention from the British authorities, it 
was decided that this solemn rite, contrary to the usual practice, 
should be performed at a distance from the river-side. The margin 
of the consecrated tank was selected for the purpose. After cere- 
monies of purification had been performed upon the spot, strong 
stakes of bamboo were driven into the ground, inclosing an oblong 
space about seven feet in length and six in breadth. Within this 
inclosure the pile was built of straw, boughs, and logs of wood ; 
upon the top a small arbor was constructed of wreathed bamboos, 
and this was hung with flowers within and without. About an 
hour after the sun had risen, prayers and ablutions having been 
carefully performed by all, more especially by the Brahmins and 
Lall Radha, the widow, who was also otherwise purified and fitted 
for the sacrifice, the corpse of the husband was brought from 
the house, attended by the administering Brahmins, and surrounded 
by the silent and weeping friends and relations of the family. 
Immediately following the corpse came Lall Radha, enveloped in a 
scarlet vail, which completely hid her beautiful form from view. 
When the body was placed upon the pile, the feet being toward 
the west, the Brahmins took the vail from Lall Radha, and, for the 
first time, the glaring multitude were suffered to gaze upon that 
lovely face and form ; but the holy woman was too deeply engaged 
in solemn prayer and converse with Brahma to be sensible of their 
presence, or of the murmur of admiration that ran through the 
crowd. Then, turning with a steady look and solemn demeanor to 
her relations, she took from her person, one by one, all her orna- 
ments, and distributed them as tokens of her love. One jewel only 
she retained, the tali, or amulet, placed around her neck by her 
deceased husband on the nuptial day ; this she silently pressed to 
her lips. Then, separately embracing each of her female relatives, 
and bestowing a farewell look upon the rest, she unbound her hair, 
which flowed in thick and shining ringlets almost to her feet, gave 
her right hand to the principal Brahmin, who led her with cere- 
mony around the pile, and then stopped, with her face toward it, on 
the side where she was to ascend. Having mounted two or three 



INSTANCES OF SUTTEE. 389 

Steps, the beautiful woman stood still, and, pressing both her hands 
upon the cold feet of her lifeless husband, she raised them to her 
forehead, in token of cheerful submission ; she then ascended and 
crept within the little arbor, seating herself at the head of her lord, 
her right hand resting upon his head. The torch was placed in 
my hand, and, overwhelmed with commingled emotions, I fired the 
pile. Smoke and flame in an instant enveloped the scene, and 
amid the deafening shouts of the multitude, I sank senseless upon 
the earth. I was quickly restored to consciousness, but already 
the devouring element had reduced the funeral pile to a heap of 
charred and smoldering timber. The Brahmins strewed the ashes 
around, and with a trembling hand I assisted my father to gather 
the blackened bones of my beloved uncle and aunt, when, having 
placed them in an earthen vessel, we carried them to the Ganges, 
and with prayer and reverence committed them to the sacred 
stream." 

The other, and the most determined instance of suttee, in view 
of her age, etc., that is on record, is described by an English gen- 
tleman who was governor of that part of the country, and in 
whose presence it took place. He says : " On receiving charge of 
the District of Jubbulpore in 1828, I issued a proclamation prohib- 
iting any one from assisting in suttee. On Tuesday, November 
24, 1829, I had an application from the heads of the most respectable 
family of Brahmins in the place to suffer an old lady, aged sixty- 
five years, to burn herself with the body of her husband, Omed 
Sing Opuddea, who had died that morning. I threatened to 
enforce my order and punish severely any man who assisted, and 
placed a police guard to see that no one did so. She remained 
sitting by the edge of the river with the body, without eating or 
drinking. The next day the body of her husband was burned to 
ashes in a small pit, about eight feet square and four deep, before 
thousands of people who had assembled to see the suttee. All 
strangers dispersed before evening, as there seemed no prospects 
of my yielding to the urgent solicitations of her family, who, ac- 
cording to the rules of tneir faith, dared not touch food till she had 



390 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

burned herself, or declared herself willing to return to them. Her 
sons and grandsons and some other relatives remained with her, 
urging her to desist ; the rest surrounded my house, urging me to 
allow her to burn. She remained sitting upon a bare rock in the 
bed of the Nerbudda, refusing any subsistence, and exposed to the 
intense heat of the sun by day, and the cold of the night, with only 
a thin sheet thrown over her shoulders. On Thursday, to cut off 
all hope of her being moved from her purpose, she put on the 
dhttjja, or coarse red turban, and broke her bracelets in pieces, by 
which she became dead in law, and forever excluded from caste. 
Should she choose to live after this, she could never return to her 
family. Her children and grandchildren were still with her, but 
all their entreaties were unavailing. I became satisfied that she 
would starve herself to death if not allowed to burn, by which her 
family would be disgraced, her miseries prolonged, and I rendered 
liable to be charged with a wanton abuse of authority, for no pro- 
hibition of the kind I had issued had as yet received the formal 
sanction of the Government. Early on Saturday morning I rode 
out ten miles to the spot, and found the poor old widow still sit- 
ting with the dhujja around her head. She talked very collectedly, 
telling me that ' she had determined to mix her ashes with those 
of her departed husband, and she would patiently wait my permis- 
sion to do so, assured that God would enable her to sustain life till 
that was given, though she dared not eat or drink.' Looking at 
the sun, then rising before her over a long and beautiful reach of 
the Nerbudda River, she said calmly, ' My soul has been for five 
days with my husband's near that sun ; nothing but my earthly 
frame is left, and this I know you will in time suffer to be mixed 
with the ashes of his in yonder pit, because it is not in your nature 
or your usage wantonly to prolong the miseries of a poor old 
woman.' I replied, * Indeed it is not ; my object and duty is to 
save and preserve them, and I am come to dissuade you from this 
idle purpose, to urge you to live and keep your family from being 
thought your murderers.' She said, ' I am not afraid of their ever 
being so thought ; they have all, like good children, done every 



A DETERMINED INSTANCE OF SUTTEE. 39 1 

thing in their power to induce me to Hve among them, and if I had 
done so, I know they would have loved me and honored me, but 
my duties to them have now ceased. Our intercourse and com- 
munion here end. I go to attend my husband, Omed Sing Opud- 
dea, with whose ashes on the funeral pile mine have been already 
three times mixed.' 

" This was the first time in her long life that she had ever pro- 
nounced the name of her husband ; for in India no woman, high or 
low, pronounces her husband's name. She would consider it dis- 
respectful toward him to do so. When the old lady named her 
husband, as she did with strong emphasis, and in a very deliberate 
manner, every one present was satisfied she had resolved to die. 
Again looking at the sun, she said with a tone and countenance 
that affected me a good deal, 'I see them together under the bridal 
canopy ! ' alluding to the ceremonies of marriage ; and I am satis- 
fied that she at that moment really beheved that she saw her own 
spirit and that of her husband under the bridal canopy in paradise, 
and equally believed that she had been, in three previous births, 
three times married to him on earth, and as often had died with 
him, and must repeat it now again. I asked the old lady when 
she had first resolved to become a suttee } She told me that 
about thirteen years before, while bathing near the spot where she 
then sat, the resolution had fixed itself in her mind, as she looked 
at the splendid temples on the bank of the river erected by the 
different branches of the family, over the ashes of her female rela- 
tives, who had at different times become suttees. Two were over 
her aunts, and another over her husband's mother. They were 
very beautiful buildings, erected at great cost. She said she had 
never mentioned her resolution to any one, till she called out Suth I 
suth ! suth ! when her husband breathed his last, with his head in 
her lap, on the bank of the Nerbudda, to which he had been taken, 
when no hopes remained of his surviving the fever of which he 
died. 

" I tried to work upon her pride and her fears — told her that it 
was probable that the rent-free lands, by which her family had 



392 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

been so long supported, might be resumed by the Government, as 
a mark ol displeasure against the children for not dissuading her 
from the sacrifice ; that the temples over her ancestors on the 
bank might be leveled with the ground, in order to prevent theii 
operating to induce others to make similar sacrifices ; and, lastly, 
that not a single brick or stone should ever mark the place where 
she burned, if she persisted in her resolution ; but that, if she con- 
sented to live, a splendid habitation should be built for her among 
these temples ; a handsome provision assigned for her support out 
of these rent-free lands ; her children should daily visit her, and 
I should frequently do the same. She smiled, held out her arm, 
and said : ' My pulse has long ceased to beat, my spirit has de- 
parted, and I have nothing left but a little earth that I wish to mix 
with the ashes of my husband. I shall suffer nothing in burning ; 
if you wish proof, order some fire, and you will see this arm con- 
sumed without giving me any pain.' 

" Satisfied that it would be unavailing to save her life, I sent for 
all the principal members of her family, and consented that she 
should be suffered to burn herself if they would enter into engage- 
ments that no other member of their family should ever do the 
same. This they all agreed to ; and the papers having been drawn 
out in due form, about mid-day I sent down notice to the old lady, 
who seemed extremely pleased and thankful. The ceremonies of 
bathing were gone through with, the wood and other materials for 
a strong fire collected and put into the pit. She then rose up, and, 
with one arm on the shoulder of her eldest son, and the other on 
her nephew, she approached the fire. I had sentries placed all 
around, and no one else was allowed to go within five paces of it. 
As she rose up fire was set to the pile, and it was instantly in a 
blaze. The distance was about one hundred and fifty yards. She 
came on with a calm and cheerful countenance, stopped once, and, 
casting her eyes upward, said : ' Why have they kept me five days 
from thee, my husband } ' On reaching the sentries her supporters 
stopped ; she advanced, walked once round the pit, paused, and, 
while muttering a prayer, threw some flowers into the fire. She 



ABOLISHED AT LENGTH BT LORD BEJsTlNCK. 393 

then walked deliberately and steadily to the brink, stepped into the 
center of the flame, sat down, and leaning back in the midst, as if 
reposing upon a couch, was consumed, without uttering a shriek or 
betraying one sign of d,gony ! " 

In another part of the country a most affecting instance occurred. 
. A young princess named Mutcha Bae lost first her son and then 
her husband. She resolved upon being burned with the corpse of 
the latter, and met the remonstrance of her own mother, the excel- 
lent Alia Bae, who begged that she might not be left thus alone 
and desolate in the world, by saying, " You are old, mother, and a 
few years will terminate your pious life. My husband and my only 
child are gone, and when you follow, life, I feel, will be insupporta- 
ble, and the opportunity of closing it with honor will then have 
passed." Nothing could alter her purpose ; and the royal mother, 
finding she could not prevail on her child to consent to live, resolved 
to witness her beloved daughter's suttee. She joined the cruel pro- 
cession and stood close to the pile : two Brahmins held her by the 
arms. She bore it all till the flames rose round her beautiful child, 
when she lost all her self-control ; she shrieked with anguish, while 
the crowd shouted ; and her hands, which she could not Hberate, 
she actually gnawed in agony. By great effort she so far regained 
her self-possession as, after the bodies were consumed, to join in 
the ceremony of bathing in the Nerbudda. Then she retired to 
her palace, and for three days she fasted in her deep grief, never 
uttering a word. She subsequently sought relief in erecting a 
beautiful monument to the memory of the dear departed. Such 
monuments, the tombs of suttees, varying in size and form, yet 
generally pyramidal, are seen along the banks of the different 
sacred rivers. 

At length this terrible crime, which the edicts and energy of 
such emperors as Akbar and Aurungzebe could not restrain, trem- 
bled before the cross of Christ. The Protestant missionary entered 
India, and stood up to " plead for the widow." Before the blessed 
Name which he invoked, the demon of suttee feared and fled 
from British India. What Veda, and Shaster. and Menu, Moham- 



394 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

medan Emperor and European governor, all failed to prevent or 
terminate, in the long experience of twenty-five centuries, was 
effected by the beneficent religion of Him who, in every age and 
in every land, has proved himself to be woman's greatest and truest 
friend. 

The honored man who signed the prohibitory edict which ended 
this awful crime was Lord William Bentinck. He bore unappalled 
the brunt of native and European opposition. The highest English 
functionaries expressed their forebodings of danger from its forcible 
suppression, and the Brahmins protested and defended it, as a re- 
ligious rite that must not be meddled with. Amid this storm of 
opposition and fears, and sustained by the sympathy and prayers of 
the missionaries and other good men, his Lordship, on the 4th of 
December, 1829, signed the act which ended this outrage on human 
nature and the laws of God. Widow-burning prevails still, to some 
extent, in those provinces of Lidia not under the direct govern- 
ment of England. Two notable cases were recorded while I was in 
India — one in March, 1858, in the city of Aurungabad, in the do- 
minions of the Nizam, and the other in August, 1859, ^-^ Koonghur. 
But the flag of Britain no longer waves over a suttee, and the gov- 
ernors are doing what they can to induce the native Princes to com- 
plete its suppression. 

Lord Bentinck visited Behrole in 1832, in company with General 
Sleeman, and, pointing to some magnificent tombs of suttees, asked 
what they were. When told, he remained silent ; but he must have 
felt at the moment the proud consciousness of the debt of gratitude 
which India and India's daughters owe to the statesman who had 
the Christian courage to put a stop to the great evil in spite of the 
fearful obstacles that opposed him, 

O, Christian women of America ! amid your happy homes, and the 
exalted privileges and honor with which the Cross has surrounded 
you, remember your sisters who are still in the bonds of this cruel 
idolatry ! Urge on and extend the missions that are toiling there, 
until they penetrate to the very last of " the dark places " of India, 
where " the habitations of cruelty " still erect the suttee ; and there 




H 



O 



THE THUGS. 397 

let them, in Jesus's name, " relieve the oppressed, judge the father- 
less, and plead for the widow." 

Meanwhile, let us bless God for that wonderful victory of Chris- 
tian civilization in 1857-58 over Brahminical rebels, who, had they 
triumphed, would most surely have rekindled the fires in which, as 
in former days, the daughters of India would again have had to 
mount their chariots of flame, to be borne, not to their Vedic heav- 
en, but before the tribunal of Him who has forbidden self-murder, 
because he " will have mercy and not sacrifice," and who declares to 
the deluded suttee, as to the wayward sinner, " I have no pleasure 
in the death of him that dieth." 

In all lands, but especially in a country like India, with the mill- 
ions utterly uneducated, and debased in conscience aud morals, 
there are "dangerous classes," who live by fraud and violence, and 
who are ever ready for any opportunity of plunder and crime that 
may occur. 

But in India there exists what is not found elsewhere on earth, 
a class of men whose trade is blood, who follow murder as a pro- 
fession, and even perform it as a religious duty! The Thugs for 
centuries have 

"Laughed at human nature and compassion." 

Their organization was complete ; they were bound to each other 
by oaths and engagements as relentless as death and as heartless 
as hell. Their accessions were from the worst of all classes ; the 
perfection of villainy became a Thug. 

I present here seven members of this infernal association, whom 
I have seen in India. Every man of the group is a murderer, and 
a murderer, not by the heat of passion, or revenge, or the stimulus 
of strong drink, but a cool, sober, unexcited trader in human life, 
whose conscience knows no remorse, because he regards himself as 
rendering in the act the highest service to his chosen deity ! 

One day, at Agra, I had the opportunity of seeing these mon- 
sters. The English Government have a special police and staff — 
one of the most perfect detective systems in the world — for the 

capture of these wretches. At the head of this "Thuggee De- 
26 



398 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

partment " was Colonel Williams — he whom Government employed 
to take the evidence of the Cawnpore Massacre. A number of 
ladies, among whom was Mrs. Havelock, the General's sister-in- 
law, expressed a desire to visit the Taj that afternoon. The court- 
eous Colonel offered to escort us, and on our return casually 
remarked, as we crossed the road from the Taj, " Come, and I will 
show you something else." So he turned down an ominous-look- 
ing portal, and we followed him through the guarded gate into a 
square with high walls, and thence by a gloomy passage into an- 
other inclosed court, where were a group of some of the most awful- 
looking men that I had ever seen. The Colonel coolly remarked, 
" These are some of my pets." In a moment we realized where 
we were standing, three gentlemen and a party of ladies unguarded, 
in the very presence of nearly two hundred Thugs ! It made one's 
flesh creep. The feeling was dreadful, and the situation was not 
at all relieved, when, in retiring again through the long, dark pas- 
sage, a number of these wretches came clanking close after us, to 
plead in the outer court for some concession from the Colonel. 
The ladies of the party could hardly forgive our gallant escort for 
the trick he played upon them in leading them into such a pres- 
ence, and that, too, after coming out of the Taj. It seemed like 
leaving paradise and descending into hell among those who, in 
chains and darkness, await the judgment of the great day ! 

The Colonel permitted a photograph to be taken of some of the 
most notorious of his collection. They were unshackled, and 
brought into the parlor of the prison for the purpose. He pointed 
out one man (the one in front, on the left hand in the picture) 
who had confessed to having committed thirty murders, and who 
had given him the details of each ! And yet every one of these 
heartless villains were let loose upon society when the Sepoys rose, 
and since the suppression of the Rebellion the Thuggee Depart- 
ment has had a busy time in ferreting them out and recapturing 
them. 

Sixty years ago these men plied their dreadful trade almost un- 
molested. The native Governments could not cope with them. 



DIVINE SANCTION FOR TEUGQEEI8M. 399 

They infested the pubHc roads disguised as merchants, travelers, 
and Fakirs, but always in gangs, each man knowing his part of the 
service when the moment came for action. 

If any thing further were possible to add a more damning char- 
acter to these deeds of blood it is found in the fact that flindoo 
Thuggeeisra has dared to add a divine acquiescence to these prac- 
tices ; for their abominable creed has furnished a suitable patron 
to accept and delight in the groans and dying agonies of their 
wretched victims. 

The consort of Shiva — the third member of the Hindoo Trimurti 
— the female Moloch, to whose horrid appetite for blood, and hun- 
ger for the human lives on which she is represented as feeding, 
with a desire that is insatiate, is the being to appease and gratify 
whom the benighted mothers of India have for ages sacrificed their 
daughters' lives, and her adorers, these Thugs, have strangled the 
thousands whom they have immolated. Her name is Kalee. She 
is the most popular deity of Bengal — the etymology of the name 
of the metropolis of India being derived from her designation and 
shrine — Kalee, and Ghat, a place of ablution — Kalee's-ghat — hence 
Calcutta. 

Of this abominable idol the Kalika Purana declares, in de- 
scribing her appetite for blood and carnage : " If a devotee should 
scorch some member of his body by applying a burning lamp, the 
act would be very acceptable to the goddess ; if he should draw 
some of his blood and present it, it would be still more delectable ; 
if he should cut off some portion of his own flesh and present it as 
a burnt-offering, that would be most grateful of all. But if the 
worshiper should present her a whole burnt-offering, it would prove 
acceptable to her in proportion to the supposed importance of the 
animated beings thus immolated — that, for instance, by the blood 
of fishes or tortoises, the goddess is gratified for a whole month 
after ; a crocodile's blood will please her three months ; that of 
certain wild animals nine months ; a guana's, a year ; an antelope's, 
twelve years ; a rhinoceros's, or tiger's blood, for a hundred years ; 
but the blood of a lion, or a man, will delight her appetite for a 



400 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

thousand years ! while by the blood of three men, slain in sacrifice, 
she is pleased a hundred thousand years !" 

This is the patroness of these Thugs, these professional murder- 
ers, who, when their victim is in the agonies of strangulation be- 
neath their knees, on the ground, are engaging in acts of prayer — 
offering to Kalee the life that is passing away — and to this abomi- 
nation, thus said to feed on the human soul, have the mothers 
of India for ages immolated their daughters ! 

So popular is she and her worship, that even the English Gov- 
ernment cannot keep the public offices open during the term of 
the "Durga-Poojah" holy days, from the first to the thirteenth of 
October, for all Calcutta then runs mad upon this idolatry. I 
have seen her image, larger than the human form, painted blue, 
with her tongue represented as dripping with gore upon her chin, 
her bosom covered with a necklace of human skulls, and her many 
arms each bearing a murderous weapon, carried in proud proces- 
sion through the streets of Calcutta during those holidays, ac- 
companied by bands of music and tens of thousands of frantic 
followers. 

Of this teaching and worship Thuggeeism was the natural re- 
sult^ combining rapine with religion, the service of their goddess 
with love of plunder — the life for her, the booty for themselves. Ic 
raised ruffianism to the dignity of a fulfillment of duty, and swelled 
the numbers of these religious murderers to a fearful height, till the 
public thoroughfares were haunted by these wretches, as well as 
by the brigands and plunderers who imitated them in their lesser 
guilt. It was on the discovery of thirty dead bodies in different 
wells of the Doab, (when these assassins had grown to be so reck- 
less in their work that they were ceasing to act with their usual 
caution in burying and concealing the bodies of their victims,) that 
Thuggeeism was first brought to the knowledge of the English 
Government in 1810 ; and so determined were the measures taken 
by them for its suppression, and so faithfully have they since been 
followed up, that the Thug had to disappear from the roads of 
British India, and confine his Hmited depredations within the 



WHAT TEE CONFLICT INVOLVED. 40I 

bounds of native States, where English law cannot penetrate. 
Hundreds of them were ferreted out, and are now confined for life 
within the walls of safe jails. The Government presses upon the 
rulers of native States the necessity of imitating English example 
in this regard. But, while willing to follow the friendly advice of 
the paramount power, they have not yet the nerve and energy of 
the Anglo-Saxon, to accomplish its complete extirpation. 

Even as late as the days of Bishop Heber (1825) the common 
people went to market armed with swords and shields and spears 
and matchlocks. Just as I have seen the plowman in Oude, at the 
time of the annexation, with his sword by his side and his friends 
within view — such was the public apprehension of the lawless and 
violent, by whom life and property might at any moment be assailed. 
What a change has the presence of the English magistrate made 
all over the land, within twenty-five years ! Very justly does a 
native writer remark : " The trader and traveler now pass along the 
loneliest highway without losing a pin. If a corpse were now dis- 
covered in a well, or found by the side of a jungle, it would cause a 
general uproar in the community, and create a greater sensation 
than the irruption of a Mahratta horde. The wicked have been 
weaned from their life of rapine, and taught to subordinate them- 
selves to the authorities of society and the State." 

Over and above all these elements of wrath and hatred might be 
enumerated the " Budmashes," " Dacoits," " Goojurs," and criminal 
classes generally, with all the disaffected elements of every kind, 
who only needed the sanction of their Brahmins and Fakirs, and 
the leading of the Sepoys, to be ready for every evil work against 
law, reform, and government. The reader, from these conditions 
of society, can easily divine for himself the causes and motives of 
the great Sepoy Rebellion. He can see what classes, and how 
many, regarded it with terror and detestation, and what classes 
reveled in its developments, and by what purposes they were 
actuated. 

Can any just and adequate interpretation be put upon this terri- 
ble conflict, that does not acknowledge that its life and soul was the 



402 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

religious question? The Rebellion was Heathenism — vile, selfish, 
and cruel — trembling for its very existence and goaded to retalia- 
tion, rising up in its hour of opportunity against the Christian civ- 
ilization, whose increasing reforms and enlightenment manifestly 
knew no limit save the overthrow of every wrong, and the removal 
of every error, in India. It was the irrepressible and inevitable 
conflict of light with darkness ; it was the Christian knowledge and 
saving faith of the nineteenth century mightily wrestling with ven- 
erable ignorance and licentious idolatry for the possession of the 
bright Land of the Veda, and for perpetual supremacy over its 
200,000,000 of men ! The prize and the agony for its possession 
were correspondent ; and God defended the right. 

III. Yes ; for God and his providence must be acknowledged here 
as we search for the causes of this great conflict. On how many 
of its facts, as well as its precious results, is written, " This is the 
finger of God ! " The permissive providence which allowed this 
terrible calamity to fall upon the English in India, was, even by 
their own subsequent, contrite acknowledgment, only what their 
sins deserved. It is consistent with all that we know of the divine 
government to suppose that the Almighty must have taken cogni- 
zance of their compromises of his truth, of their patronage of idol- 
atry, of their repression of his Christianity, so as to keep it away 
from a people who needed it so much. He knew that if such a 
course was to continue unchecked India could not be saved for 
long centuries to come. He was resolved that caste and idolatry 
must be overthrown ; and if Englishmen dared to prop up the God- 
dishonoring systems, they must feel the blow which dashed those 
systems to pieces. 

I need not enumerate their national sins in India — they have 
done so themselves. As I write, the pamphlets are before me 
which contain their petitions to their Queen and Parliament, signed 
by multitudes of the best men of Britain, acknowledging before 
God and the world, in the hour of their national agony, how 
unworthy and responsible they felt themselves to be for the 
sins and shortcomings of their rule in India, and how earnestly 



ENaLANB'8 CONFESSION OF RER SINS. 403 

they pleaded with their Government to reform what was wrong in 
the administration of India, and act henceforth on Christian princi- 
ples in the rule of that land. Here is what these people said in 
1857 in their Memorial to Parliament: 

" By professing to be neutral among the various religions of its 
Indian subjects, the Government has in effect denied the truth, and 
given a great moral advantage to those foolish, wicked, and degrad- 
ing systems to which the great bulk of the people adhere. Nor 
has the advantage thus given been merely moral. Idolatry has 
formerly been, and to some extent still is, publicly patronized and 
subsidized. Its immodest and cruel rites have been honored with 
the attendance of Government officers, and paid for from funds 
under Government control. The system of Caste, which, in every 
part of it, contradicts and counteracts the Christian religion, has 
been recognized in Government arrangements for the administra- 
tion of justice, as well as in the organization of the army, and selfish 
humanity and contempt of their fellow-men and subjects, have thus 
received the highest official sanction. The Government has dis- 
couraged the teaching of the Christian religion to certain classes 
of its subjects, and made the profession of it, in a sense, penal, by 
placing some who have been turned from idols to serve the living 
and true God under disabilities to which they were not, before their 
conversion, liable. And, while allowing the Koran and the Shaster 
to be freely used, it has forbidden the teaching of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, or even the answering of spontaneous inquiries respecting 
their contents, during school hours, in the educational institutions 
which it supports. In all these instances the Indian Government, 
though professing neutrality in matters of religion, has practically 
countenanced and favored falsehood and wickedness of the most 
flagitious kind." 

They here quote dispatches of the East India Company, who had 
ruled India for a hundred years, in proof of the foregoing statements, 
and also refer to facts well known in India — such as Lord Clive per- 
sonally attending a heathen festival at Conjeveram, and present- 
ing an ornament to the idol worth 1,050 pagodas, (;^i,85o;) Lord 



404 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Auckland, another Governor General, offering 2,000 rupees ($1,000) 
at the Muttra shrine, and being highly piaised in a native newspa- 
per for his piety ! Lord Ellenborough, in 1 842, ordering the gates 
of the Temple of Somnath (carried off by a Mohammedan con- 
queror eight hundred years ago) to be carried back hundreds 
of miles, with military honors, and his issuing a proclamation, 
announcing the heathenish act, " to all' the Princes, Chiefs, and 
People of India." They also refer to the conduct of Lord Dal- 
housie, later still, paying reverence to an idol, by changing his dress 
on entering the heathen temple of Umritsur, and making an offer- 
ing to it of 5,000 rupees, (^2,500.) These things were done by 
Indian Viceroys, while Government servants were required to col- 
lect pilgrims' tax, administer the estates of idol temples, and pay 
allowances to officials connected with heathen shrines ; and even 
military officers had to parade troops and present arms in honor of 
idol processions ! 

These things were so. The writer has seen (and could give the 
name of the place, and of the commanding officer responsible) Brit- 
ish cannon loaned, and ammunition supplied, to fire a salute in 
honor of a heathen idol, and that on the holy Sabbath day ! Chris- 
tian Englishmen in India groaned over these acts, officers in the 
army threw up their commissions sooner than obey such orders, 
and men in high positions protested against them as sins of the 
deepest dye, fearing that God would " visit for these things," and 
appealed to the British public to stop the madness of the East 
India Company and their servants in India. When I entered India 
there was not over one native Christian in Government employ in 
all the North-west Provinces. While that very year the only Sepoy 
who, up to that time, had ever become a Christian (save one, men- 
tioned by Heber, who was also dismissed) was, by order of the 
Governor-General, removed from the army because he had become 
a Christian, and the commanding officer and the civil judge who 
attended at the baptism were reproved by his Excellency for doing 
so ! His object, in this mistaken policy, was to prevent the discus- 
sion and prejudice which would result, and convince the Sepoy 



HONESTY IS TEE BEST POLICY. 405 

army how fully his administration would sustain the doctrine of 
" neutrality." But what must Almighty God have thought of such 
conduct, and that, too, on the part of men who went to Church on 
Sunday, and professed to be members of a State Establishment of 
Christianity ! 

The patience of Him who will " not give his glory to another, 
nor his praise to graven images," was about exhausted with that 
proud company and their policy, and the Parliament of England 
and its Christian people were already preparing the overthrow of 
both, and deliberately making up their minds to the introduction 
of a more Christian and manly administration of Indian affairs. 
The petitioners end their Memorial, earnestly pleading that these 
Government sins should cease, and India be henceforth ruled in a 
way more worthy of the duty which Christian England owes to 
that people. 

Their confession and humiliation were candid and sincere, and in 
the hour of their deep distress God was entreated for the land. 
Defeat was soon after turned to victory. He saved them from 
among the heathen. God came to their aid, not in the infidel, 
Bonapartist sense, in which He is said to be " on the side of the 
strongest battalions," for here he clearly was on the side of the 
weaker, and gave the victory to the " few " instead of the " many," 

No Government ever committed a greater mistake than the 
East India Company did when it adopted this "neutrality" policy. 
The result was, it laid itself open to the charge of underhand 
designs for the overthrow of the popular faith — for the people could 
not imagine a Government without a religion — and it was conse- 
quently disbelieved and distrusted, while the Christian mission- 
aries, who boldly and openly denounced idolatry, and invited the 
people kindly and candidly to embrace Christianity, were under- 
stood, and even trusted, by the masses. So marked was this fact, 
that in the panic at Benares, and when the vanguard of Havelock's 
troops were passing through, and extra supplies were urgently 
required, the Government officials could not induce the villagers 
around to bring them in ; a very serious condition of things was 



406 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

arising. In the emergency a Christian missionary, Mr. Leupolt, 
could do what the commissariat officers failed to effect. He went 
out among the villagers — heathens, to whom he had often preached 
on the guilt and danger of their idolatry — and told them what the 
Government needed. The people asked him if he would give his 
word that they should be justly treated if they furnished what was 
needed ? He said he would. Without more ado they loaded their 
hackeries, and accompanied him to the city, and furnished all that 
was required. This I know to be a fact. A similar instance is on 
record in the experience of Missionary Swartz in the south of India. 

Honesty is the best policy. If the India Government had acted 
on it they would not have exposed themselves to the retort of 
Rajah Janaryan, of Benares, a liberal and wealthy friend of native 
education, who, when a Christian physician, who had raised him 
up from a severe illness, urged the claims of the Gospel upon his 
mind, the Rajah at first seemed disposed to yield ; but presently, 
on reflection, he stifled his convictions by the remark, " Sir, had 
the Christian religion been true, the Company Bahadur [the Gov- 
ernment] which has, in other respects, benefited my country, would 
not have withheld from at least commending this religion to our 
notice ! " 

Sir John Lawrence was Governor of the Punjab when the Rebel- 
lion broke out ; the elements around him were as energetic, and 
some of them as dangerous, as any in India. He had been supe- 
rior to the policy of his masters, and would insist on favoring Mis- 
sionaries and the Bible in the schools. What was the result of 
this open and candid course, even in the hour when all around 
them had fallen .? The missionaries waited upon him to say that, 
if their public preaching in the streets of Lahore was any embar- 
rassment in the condition of the country, they were ready to pause 
for a season, if he thought it requisite to do so. His prompt reply, 
which will be a lasting honor to him, was, " No, gentlemen ; prose- 
cute your preaching and missionary enterprises just as usual. 
Christian things, done in a Christian way, will never alienate the 
heathen." They acted on his advice, and did not preach a sermon 



ANOTHER DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 407 

the less for the Rebelhon. Though all India around them had 
"gone," their Punjab stood firm, and even supplied the men and 
means for sustaining the siege of Delhi, till it fell, and the Govern- 
ment was fully restored. The East India Company was abolished, 
amid the contempt of all good men, and even of the candid hea- 
then ; while this very man, Sir John Lawrence, was chosen by the 
Queen to be Viceroy of India, to introduce that better and more 
Christian condition of things which prevails there to-day ! What 
an illustration of the promise, " Them that honor me I will honor, 
and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed ! " 

Ar the close of September the insurrection between Mooltan 
and Ferozepore suddenly stopped all mails, and we were left for a 
time without any further news. Just then our implacable foe, 
Khan Bahadur, made his last fierce effort for our destruction. 
For a few days our anxiety was terrible. The force at Bareilly 
had been augmented by the arrival there of the Nana Sahib, and 
their rage had risen with the spirit and character of their visitor, 
and the followers he brought to their aid. Of course he advised 
our destruction, and it was attempted by the largest force hitherto 
sent against us, consisting, it was said, of over one thousand cav- 
alry and four thousand infantry. They came to the Huldwanee 
side of our position for their attack, but our trust was still in the 
" God of battles ;" so there we stood, calmly awaiting the result. 
Few as we were, we knew that there was succor, in which " they 
that be with us are more than they that be with them." (2 Kings vi.) 

The help of Providence is not less certain or near because it is 
invisible. It was "a day of trouble, and of rebuke and blas- 
phemy." This modern Sennacherib had come up to cut off " the 
remnant that are left," full of rage at Christ and his people. His 
blasphemies against the Lord's Anointed doubtless exceeded in 
bitterness the reproaches of the Assyrian king, and with similar 
pride and confidence he said, " With my multitude I am come up 
to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and I will 
cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees 
thereof, and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into 



4o8 FEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

the forest of his Carmel." (2 Kings xviii, 19.) He would, we knew, 
if God allowed him, but not otherwise. Yet this haughty spirit 
was the precursor of his own destruction. 

Of course he kept us in distress and excitement, and this was 
intensified by the cutting off of our mails, so that we could get no 
information. For a few days we could but fear the worst. How 
we longed for the news of the fall of Delhi, and for the relief that 
would come when that was accomplished ! But God was working- 
out our salvation in his own way, and in the height of this very 
emergency one of his most manifest interpositions was developed. 
A few days after their arrival this powerful force, by some unac- 
countable influence, suddenly decamped, without doing us the 
smallest injury. Our spies brought us word that every one of 
them had fled, and, on some of us going down, we found that they 
had evidently left, not merely in a hurry, but m a panic, for the 
heel ropes of the cavalry horses, instead of being untied and taken 
with them, were all found cut and left fast to the stakes ! The 
only way we could accovmt for it was a report which was said to 
have reached them that we were going down to surprise them 
with immensely augmented numbers. Be this as it may, they left 
suddenly and went back to Bareilly. 

The old Nawab was outrageous at their return, and insisted 
upon a renewal of the effort ; but a terror from God seemed to have 
fallen upon them, and this was immediately followed by the news, 
so dreadful to them, of the capture of Delhi by the English troops, 
spreading consternation through their ranks. They received that 
information some days before we did ; but at length it came to us 
at the close of September, 

I was sitting that afternoon, writing in a very pensive mood, 
when the sudden roar of a cannon, from the little fort near our 
cottage, brought me to my feet, and a brilliant hope flashed across 
my heart. I snatched my hat and ran up the hill, while peal after 
peal thundered out, making the grand Himalayas reverberate. At 
last I gained the summit, and stood till I counted the " royal " 
twenty-one. I needed no one to tell me what it meant. Our 



DELHI FALLS AT LAST. 409 

commanding officer had just received the message which an- 
nounced that Delhi had fallen ! 

I stood there, wrapt in thoughts never to be forgotten, and a 
luxury of feehng flowed through my heart, which will make that 
moment a bright spot in my life and recollection forever. 

How often before had the thunder of those British cannon 
proved the inlet of salvation to the oppressed and persecuted ! I 
was not the first American missionary to whom they had an- 
nounced " glad tidings of great joy." I thought of Judson and 
his heroic wife, of Wade and Hough, on whose ears, in their mel- 
ancholy captivity, those cheerful peals proclaimed approaching 
liberty. 

None but those who, like ourselves, have been practically cap- 
tive for months, not knowing but that any day our doom might be 
sealed by the hand of violence, can imagine how every gun seemed 
to ring the knell of the Moslem city and power, while it proclaimed 
liberty to the Christian and the missionary of the cross — none but 
those so situated can appreciate the luxury of an hour like that. 

It was impossible, as I returned down the hill, to repress the 
tears that so freely flowed ; yet they were caused by no craven 
love of life, nor coward fear of death. I had passed through 
sufficient ordeals to know " in whom I had believed." No, my 
tears flowed, but they were for India's own sake ; shed in joyful 
hope and largeness of heart, that God was once more setting free 
those Christian agencies which alone could redeem " her from her 
sins " and sufferings, and which would lead her to the possession 
of those untold mercies that even she shall yet enjoy in common 
with all Christian nations. 

If time is to be measured by the magnitude of events that tran- 
spire within any given space, how long and how much we seemed 
to have lived during those past five months ! 

The capture of Delhi is too well known to the reader to require 
any thing more than mere references in these pages. It was the 
event on which our fate, and the fate of British India, seemed to 
hang during those long months ; and its capture by a mere handful 



4IO THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

of troops was one of the marvels of those stirring times. At 
length we breathed freely, and the hope of deliverance, rose 
brightly upon our horizon. The scattered Sepoy host had to be 
followed up through all parts of India, Rohilcund being left until the 
last. Lucknow could not be reoccupied till March of the following 
year, (1858,) and it was not till May the 5th that Bareilly was cap- 
tured, and our way opened to return there. 

We were thus free to go out on the north-west side, while we 
were to be shut up on the south-east for eight months more, so we 
concluded to leave for the plains, after most of our number had 
already gone. To remain longer where we were seemed out of 
the question. No money could reach us ; I had exhausted every 
source, and to borrow any more was impracticable. 

Ere the snow closed the road over the Himalayas for the winter, 
we concluded it was best for us also to go. At Meerut we could 
obtain the means required, and should also be on the "grand 
trunk road," and, after the fall of Futtyghur could, if necessary, 
join the brethren expected at Calcutta, and decide with them what 
was best to be done for the present. We could also obtain requi- 
sites for the mission and for ourselves, and be ready to return with 
our brethren and sisters as soon as our field was again open. 

Before starting, we had the joy of receiving a letter from Broth- 
ers Pierce and Humphrey, dated Calcutta, September 30, with the 
glad news of their safe arrival there in good health. They wrote 
in their letter : " We knew nothing of the fearful scenes transpir- 
ing in India until our pilot came on board on the morning of the 
19th instant, bringing files of the latest papers. After we had 
recovered ourselves a little from the first blow, we turned to the 
account of the Bareilly tragedy. I read it aloud, trembling almost 
to read from line to line. Twenty-nine out of eighty-four Euro- 
peans escaped, and your name unmentioned ! Our worst fears 
were excited. We saw, however, that only official names were 
given ; but, after resolving the matter, could encourage ourselves 
but little to hope for your safety. We remained in this state of 
intense suspense until four P. M. on Monday, the 21st, when we 



AGAIN IN TEE WILDERNESS. 411 

cast anchor at Calcutta. I hastened on shore, called on Mr. 
Stewart, and learned the joyful tidings of your escape to Nynee 
Tal. Our interest was all concentrated in the question, 'Are 
Brother Butler and family safe .?' When we learned this, our grati- 
tude and gladness were such that we scarcely thought, for the time, 
of your losses and sufferings : it seemed enough that you were 
saved. ' O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and 
for his wonderful works to the children of men ! ' I returned to 
the ship ; then were we glad, thanked God, and took courage." 

It seems a singular coincidence that the English and American 
Methodist missions to India should both have commenced their 
labors under afflictive circumstances connected in each case with 
their superintendent. 

On the 3d of May, 1814, the leader of the first band of Wesleyan 
missionaries, Dr. Coke, suddenly died, almost within sight of India. 
His brethren, deprived of their zealous and devoted superintend- 
ent, landed in grief and sadness. 

^On the 19th of September, 1857, another ship neared the coast 
of India, this time bearing, not English, but American, Meth- 
odist missionaries. They also are the first band that this Church 
has sent to India ; and they, too, are in anxiety and distress, for they 
fear that their superintendent has been murdered. 

But this is not all. On Dr. Coke's death, the Rev. James 
Lynch was appointed to the superintendency. He labored nearly 
thirty years, and then returned to his native land, and was appointed 
to the Comber Circuit. Being feeble, the writer was sent to assist 
him. We traveled and labored together ; God was with us, and 
sinners were converted. During the Sepoy RebelHon he was 
calmly awaiting his departure to a better world, full of years and 
the grace of God, while the boy preacher, whom he so kindly cher- 
ished and prayed for fifteen years before, was in that very India, 
and superintendent of the first American Methodist Mission 
established there ! 

The journey across to Landour was a wonderful one. We 
climbed mountains, forded rivers, clambered round frightful preci- 



412 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

pices, often on narrow paths which, in places, were not more than 
twenty to thirty inches wide. At a gorge in the mountains we 
crossed the Ganges, there a roaring torrent between walls of rock, 
on a miserable rope bridge, which had been condemned as unsafe, 
and which swung in the wind, sixty feet above the water that 
foamed beneath it. It was a journey never to be forgotten for its 
magnificent views, its tall pine forests, the wildness of the scenery, 
the beauty and variety of its birds, and the singular sensation that 
we were moving over moiintains and through forests infested by 
tigers and all sorts of savage animals, against which our only pro- 
tection was the sunlight by day and the flaming log fire by night. 
But God guided us in safety. Though, to show how near we were 
to danger, and how much we required merciful care, I will state that 
one night we had camped in a lonely valley by a stream, having 
with us a goat which we had brought along to give milk for the 
little " Mutiny Baby." The poor goat was left fastened, as usual, 
to the peg at the texit door, with the fire in front outside, and our 
lantern lighted within. The fire unfortunately went out, and in the 
middle of the night we were startled out of our sleep by a roar and 
a yell of agony, and, jumping up and opening the tent door, I found 
that the wild beasts had carried off the poor goat bodily, and were 
already clear out of sight with her ! 

Occasionally we slept five thousand feet higher, or lower, than 
where we rested the night before. Our " house and home " was a 
little tent eight feet square. A day's journey varied from seven to 
fifteen miles, according to the character of the road. It was gen- 
erally four or five P. M. by the time we reached the camping-place. 
The tent was then set up, our dinner cooked, and there, beside our 
large log fire, sometimes ten or twenty miles from any habitation, we 
enjoyed the grand solitude. After this we would heap more logs on 
the fire for protection against the animals, and, commending ourselves 
to the care of God, would lie down and sleep tranquilly. The wild 
beasts, by which we were generally surrounded, disturbed us no fur- 
ther. So it went on for sixteen days and nights from the time we 
started, the whole distance being about one hundred and eighty miles. 



DELHI NAKED. 413 

Tlie last day, when crossing the highest mountain of the range, the 
snow began to fall, so that we had to camp that night upon it, with 
a few boughs under us. But the next morning we crossed it, and 
began to descend to the plains, and soon were beyond the snow 
line. 

Our last communication from America was dated several months 
before. How people over there felt about our position and circum- 
stances, and in regard to our mission, we knew not. We could 
only hope that our beloved Church, far from being daunted or dis- 
couraged, was more than ever resolved and prepared to do her duty 
toward her great work in India. 

We reached Dehra Doon December 5th. How calm and beauti- 
ful all things in the valley seemed to us, after being shut up so many 
months upon the mountains ! But the Rohilcund rebels were 
across the Ganges, so we kept off by Saharunpore, and thence to 
Kurnal and the imperial city. It was two hours after midnight 
when we passed the outskirts of Delhi. We rolled down the empty 
street of the Subzee Mundee, rattled on to the bridge over the 
moat, and hailed the sentry, who, seeing a white face, asked no 
questions, but opened the ponderous gates, and — ten weeks after 
its capture — we were in Delhi ! 

There is something very solemn in passing through the de- 
serted streets of a conquered city. We could dimly see that all 
was desolation and utter confusion. Having reached the lonely 
house assigned for travelers, and taken a cup of tea, my curiosity 
was too great for rest or sleep, so I procured a light, and wandered 
down the Chandnee Chowk, (the Street of Silver.) All was still 
as death ; indeed the silence was dreadful ; not a ray of light any- 
vvhere, except from the lantern which I carried. Not a human being 
to be seen. Every door, whether of store or private house, lay 
open. I entered five or six shops. No words could describe the 
wreck : even the floors had been torn up by the " loot " seekers. 
One was a native doctor's shop. The drawers were all out, half 
the bottles still on the shelves, and the rest overturned and 

smashed. Every thing valuable in each case had been carried off, 
27 



414 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and there lay the worthless remnants, knocked to pieces on the 
floors. In some places a heavy fermentation was going on, causing 
an insupportable smell. The wretched cats were silently moping 
about, and the poor dogs howled mournfully in the desolate houses. 

And this was Delhi, and this her recompense ! Far rather 
would one see a city knocked down and covered with its own ruins, 
than to behold a scene like this. A tomb in Herculaneum can be 
contemplated with interest ; but Delhi, that night, was like an open 
grave rifled of its ornaments, and its dishonored, reeking condition 
lying exposed to the gaze of the lonely visitor. No wonder that 
its excluded Mohammedan population, as they prowled around its 
vicinity, said, "This is a worse punishment than that of Nadir 
Shah. He gave up the city to massacre and pillage for a few days, 
then all was over, and the surviving inhabitants returned to their 
homes and employments, and every thing went on as before. 
The English took no such vengeance ; but they drove us out, and 
week after week they kept us excluded, and will not let us return." 

No doubt, such language correctly represented their feelings. 
This decided exclusion of them ; this calm and continued investi- 
gation by the civil and military authorities ; this searching out, and 
bringing to justice, the perpetrators of the crimes of May and June 
• — giving them the opportunity of proving their innocence, (one 
trial alone having lasted ten days,) and then their prompt execution 
when found guilty of murder — all this, together with the disposition 
of the Government to acknowledge and reward fidelity where they 
found it, produced an immense impression. It was so contrary to 
the rash and indiscriminate mode of Oriental despotism. 

When I reached the Kotwalie (the Mayor's office) in the square, 
a horror came over me as I remembered that I was then standing 
upon the very ground where, on the I2th and 13th of May, En- 
glishwomen 

" Perished 
In unutterable shame ; " 

where good Rajib Ali, and many others with him, were tortured, 
not accepting the deliverance urged upon them by the raging crowd 



ALONE AT MIDNIGHT BEFORE THE KOTWALIE. 415 
on condition of apostasy; and where also the murdered and muti- 
lated bodies of Christian men and women lay exposed and insulted, 
till at length, when no longer endurable, they were dragged away 
out of the city and flung to the jackals and the birds of prey ; and 
here I was, standing alone at midnight amid the darkness 4hich 
my lantern only made visible, in the very center of Delhi, with nc 
sound to be heard save the sighing of the wind in the great, dark 
peepul trees above my head, till my excited fancy almost imagined 
that I heard them moan out, - How long, O Lord, how long ! " 
The reminiscences of that moment were enough to chill the blood 
of the strongest man. They recur to me now like a dream of ter- 
ror that can never be forgotten. 

I walked on to the Emperor's gate, but it was shut ; the walls 
frowned darkly down upon me, and all was silent as death. I 
turned back by the other side of the street to my lodging, a walk 
of more than a mile, without meeting a single human being. 

As I stood that night in the midst of this stern desolation, I was 
forcibly reminded of the Lesson in the calendar for the 14th of 
September, which attracted our attention so much when reading it, 
and all the more when we heard afterward that it was the Lesson 
for the day on which tke assault was given. It was in Nahum iii, 
and begins, "Woe to the bloody city !" etc. ; as applicable to Delhi 
as ever it was to Nineveh— and here was her "woe." She was 
"naked," "a gazing stock," and "laid waste;" her "nobles in the 
dust," her "people scattered;" so that with equal truth it might 
then be said of her, "There is no healing of thy bruise ; thy wound 
is grievous ; all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap their hands 
over thee, for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed con- 
tinually .?" (Verse 19.) 

I picked up an Hindustanee account book lying at a merchant's 
door, and returned and went to bed absorbed in the thoughts of a 
retributive Providence, and the sad miseries of war among which 
I lay. 

Early the next morning I was out again rambling through the 
streets. The people who had passes were admitted for trade and 



41 6 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

market. The Chandnee Chowk, with a few of its leading tributa- 
ries toward the Palace, (inside the walls of which were the troops 
and the prisoners,) were the only portions of Delhi where I met 
any number of people. The rest of the city was a desert, where 
one might walk half a mile and not meet a human being, even at 
midday. Coming around to the Kotwalie, an awful sight presented 
itself On a high gallows (which the darkness prevented me from 
seeing when I stood there a few hours before) were hanging by the 
neck, dead, eighteen of the " Shahzadas " — the king's seed — who 
had been found guilty of terrible crimes, many of them committed 
at this very place. They had been hanged at daybreak, and only 
a few persons were standing around. 

I had, of course, heard the report of their fiendish deeds, but to 
come thus suddenly upon the authors of them, bearing their pen- 
alty on the very spot where their crimes were committed, was 
enough to chill the blood in one's veins. How dreadful is sin ! 
The sight made me sick, and I turned hastily away. 

During the day we called upon Lieutenant E., a military friend, 
who kindly gratified our wishes to be shown "the sights." 
Mounting us on one of the government elephants, he took us over 
the battle-field, and described the siege and the assault, and the 
capture of the city at the different points. We lingered where 
General Wilson stood when the terrible assault was made, and 
seemed to realize the whole scene. It is doubtful if any com- 
mander in modern times has sustained a weightier responsibility 
than he did then. 

Further delay was impossible ; there was no room for any 
reverse. He must succeed or all was lost. A repulse would have 
involved consequences so terrible that the mind dare hardly con- 
template them. If he failed, that little army, without a miracle, 
must have been annihilated, the wavering Punjab would have 
" gone," and the undecided princes have been drawn into the cur- 
rent, which would probably, within a few weeks, have swept away 
every thing British and Christian from the soil of India. 

We wandered over the battle-field, by the broad shore of the 



THE SIGHTS OF DELHI. 417 

Jumna, and saw that, notwithstanding the efforts to clear the 
ground, the sanguinary character of the contest was still manifest : 
dead horses and camels, and occasionally human remains, with 
portions of exploded shells, might be seen. The " Brahminee 
hawks " and vultures were still hovering around. I took up a 
human skull ; it was that of a Sepoy for the marks of the paicn 
were still on the front teeth. A round shot or sword-cut had 
taken off the top of the head ; death must have been instantaneous. 
I thought of the lines of the classic poet as I thus looked upon the 
most vivid realization of them I ever saw, or ever expect to see : 

" The wrath which hurled to Pluto's gloomy reign 
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain ; 
Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore, 
Devouring dogs and hungiy vultures tore ! " 

From the battle-field we went in the afternoon to Selim Ghur, 
and thence along the fortifications by the river. We were for- 
tunate in falling in with Brigadier Jones, who took the Palace on 
the last day of the assault. He told us that he led 780 men into 
action, of whom nearly 450 were either killed or wounded, the pro- 
portion of officers being very large. This fact shows what a des- 
perate service he had to perform. Personally he escaped un- 
touched. The Brigadier commanded a few months afterward at 
the battle of Bareilly. 

We went next to the magazine, the defense of which has ren- 
dered the name of Willoughby so famous. Here we were also 
favored in having as a guide Lieutenant Forrest, who was one of 
Willoughby's officers on that occasion. He conducted us over the 
place, and explained the details of the ever-memorable defense. 

We next went to see the beautiful Jain Temple. The outward 
court reminded me of the description of Solomon's Temple, it was 
so rich and elegant. In the sanctuary there stood a shrine, which 
rose tier above tier, till it terminated in a dome on four pillars, the 
proportions of the whole being exquisite. Each part was richly 
carved in screen work in white marble, and inlaid with precious 
stones ; but every thing movable had been carried off, including 



-41 8 TEE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

the magnificent curtains, embroidered in gold, which were hung 
around the court, perhaps twenty in number. 

In the sanctuary we found two Parisnaths, (or Parswanaths,) one 
of them as large as life, in black marble, with a genuine negro 
type of countenance, high cheek bones, thick lips, and curly hair. 
On asking the reason, the priest informed us that their god Paris- 
nath was exactly like a negro, an idea which they hold in common 
with all Buddhists. 

Both of the venerable deities had their noses smashed, and 
looked, in consequence, rather ridiculous. I asked the priest, " Who 
mutilated them .''" He said, "The Mohammedan Sepoys did so, and 
then the Sikhs came afterward, and robbed us of every thing they 
could carry off." This temple, for its size, is certainly the most 
splendid place of worship I ever saw. The Motee Musjid, in Agra, 
is more chastely elegant ; but there was about the structure and 
appearance of this edifice something which, though " not worthy to 
be compared," yet helped to a more adequate idea of that match- 
less " house of God " which the liberality of Jewish piety erected 
on Mount Zion. 

From this we went to see the Jumma Musjid, the greatest Mo- 
hammedan " cathedral " of the East, and one of the very largest, if 
not the largest place of worship, in the world. The view from the 
top of the minarets was magnificent. These lofty towers were 
occupied by the leaders of the defense during the siege, and in 
that vast court below thousands of those blood-thirsty fanatics, from 
sunrise to sunset, during that long anxiety, implored God, for Mo- 
hammed's sake, to aid them in exterminating the followers of the 
hated Messiah. Here they "raged" and "took counsel together," 
but God, instead of answering, rejected their prayers, confounded 
their devices, and " dashed them " and their government " in pieces 
like a potter's vessel," and here was the center of the fearful wreck 
of all their purposes. 

The whole place was desecrated. Native soldiers were cooking 
their food in the cloisters. The high priest's throne was smashed, 
and every thing valuable carried off. I entered their treasure room, 



MOHAMMEDAN TREATMENT OF HINDOO IDOLS. 419 

and on the ground, covered with broken boxes and rubbish, I found 
those marble slabs, (of the existence and use of which I had pre- 
viously heard,) one professing to bear the impress of Mohammed's 
hand, and the other of his foot. Notwithstanding the boast of the 
Mohammedans as iconoclasts, they do pay these relics a certain 
religious veneration that is idolatrous. I found them where they 
kept their most venerated things. Those who sought only pre- 
cious metals and other valuables had not considered them worthy 
of removal, but to me they were deeply significant, and, as " loot- 
ing" was the order of the day, I carried them off, to the great 
amusement of the Beloochee soldiers, who laughed at the idea of 
the " Sahib " soiling his clothes to carry away " such useless things 
as those dirty stones." As long as they last they will be an evi- 
dence of the debasement of Oriental Mohammedanism, furnished 
by the treasure room of its greatest mosque. 

From the Jumma Musjid we went to the Hindoo Temple of 
Mahadeva, near the palace gate. Destruction had raged here also. 
The high priest was very civil, telling us "how thankful he was 
that our Raj (Government) had returned." They confound all white 
men with the Government. We entered, and the little knot of 
priests looked sad and sorrowful enough. Seeing that the idols 
were all off their pedestals, I inquired where they were. They led 
us up to the place, and there, on the ground, covered reverently with 
a cloth, were nearly twenty of their gods, beautifully carved in white 
marble, about as large as little babies, all in a state of mutilation, 
not one whole one in the lot. Their legs, and arms, and heads 
were off, and their noses smashed, while the bright eyes of one and 
another looked up out of the pile as if they were astonished ! 

The poor priests looked down, with rueful countenances and 
heavy sighs, at the wreck and confusion. I had no condolence to 
offer, for the scene was such an illustration of the folly and impo- 
tence of idolatry that I felt like giving way to immoderate laughter, 
but refrained, as I knew it would annoy them to the last degree. 
We asked, "Who or what wrought all this destruction.''" "Why, 
Sahib, the Budmash Mohammedans, of course. They came into 



420 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

our temple, and with the butt ends of their muskets they knocked 
off their legs and arms, and smashed their noses, and flung them 
on the ground, and desecrated them." I told them we had no pit)^ 
for them. They had, with their eyes open, joined these " Bud- 
mash " Mohammedans, to expel a Government that had never out- 
raged their religion, but always protected them in its exercise, and 
which they themselves had often declared was the best Govern- 
ment their country ever knew. They admitted the assertion; and 
when we asked them why they did so, they replied, " Because, 
Sahib, we were deluded. Those people told us, if we would only 
join them this once, they would give us perpetual deliverance from 
all fear of the growing power of Christianity, which, they said, was 
about to destroy our religion ; and that they would also give us 
equal rights and privileges. Their war cry was, ' Do deen ek zeen 
men,' (two religions in one saddle ;) but they soon gave us to 
understand that one of the two must ride behind ; and when they 
came to decide which it should be, they settled that after their 
fashion." He added, " I prayed to God for your return to this city, 
O, how thankful we are that your Raj has come back again ! " 

I asked if I might take two or three of the broken idols. They 
submissively replied, " What you like ; you are master here." They 
lent me a basket, and procured a coolie to carry the three which I 
picked out. I placed some money in their hands for them. They 
seemed surprised that I had not acted on my " right of conquest," 
and taken them without payment. On asking them what they 
were now engaged in worshiping, as their other gods were destroyed, 
they seemed afraid to reply. We told them they need not be, 
and that we had heard of it, and knew what it was, and only 
wished to see it. After obtaining our promise that we would not 
demand that too, if they showed it, they led us into the sanctuary, 
and there it was, nothing more nor less than the upper and hinder 
part of a bull, (Nundee Davee,) carved and polished in black marble. 
The flowers and Ganges water were fresh upon it, showing that it 
had been worshiped that day. And this was Hindoo worship, in 
one of its chief temples in the imperial city ! 



MY VISIT TO THE EMPEBOB. 42 1 

Our kind guide now brought us to see the Emperor, Empress, 
and the Princes, who were awaiting trial ; but before doing so, he 
led us up to that part of the palace where was the suite of apart- 
ments which had been occupied by the English Embassador, and 
into his reception-room, where he and the chaplain, and the two 
ladies, were murdered. 

In the East a violation of hospitality is regarded as a crime of 
greater magnitude than it is with us. This is fully illustrated in 
the Scriptures ; yet here, under the very roof of the Emperor, the 
Embassador, Hon. Mr. Eraser, (the second brother killed within 
those walls,) with the Rev. Mr. Jennings and his daughter. Miss 
Jennings, with her cousin. Miss Clifford — said to be one of the most 
beautiful Englishwomen then in the East — were ruthlessly cut to 
pieces in this very room. Their blood still stained its floor, the 
marks of the tulwars were in the plaster round about, and on the 
walls was the impress of some of their gory hands, made as they 
leaned after receiving their first wounds ; while the head of another 
of the party had fallen back against the wall, and described part of 
a circle as it sank to the floor, leaving the blood and hair in the 
track of its passage ! 

There were bitter feelings expressed against the Empress, espe- 
cially for these assassinations. It was considered that under her 
own roof, at all events, it was entirely in her power to have saved 
these ladies had she chosen to do so ; but she made no effort for 
this purpose, and when her own hour of sorrow came, it was re- 
membered to her disadvantage. 

We were obliged to procure a written permission to see the 
Emperor. There had been no restriction on the public curiosity 
till a gentleman, who had lost several relatives by the mutiny, went 
lately to see the Emperor, and, losing control of his feelings, 
used such language as put the old man in "bodily fear" for his 
safety. This, with no doubt other reasons, led to his being kept a 
close prisoner, and interviews permitted only in the presence of 
the magistrate and the officer of the guard who had him in charge. 
The place of his residence was a small house of three rooms in his 



422 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

own garden. Accompanied by the officer and Mr. Ommanney, we 
passed through the guard of the Rifles, and entered the room 
where the Emperor was sitting cross-legged, after the Oriental 
fashion, on a charpoy, with cushions on each side to lean upon, 
engaged in eating his dinner, using his fingers only, without knife 
or fork. 

His dress was rich, his vest being cloth of gold, with a beautiful 
coat of Cashmere, and a turban of the same material. The figure 
of the old man was slight ; his physiognomy very marked ; his 
face small, with a hooked or aquiline nose ; his eyes dark and 
deeply sunk, with something of the hawk aspect about them ; 
his beard was gray and scanty, running down to a point. Not- 
withstanding his crimes, it was impossible to look upon this 
descendant of Tamerlane without emotion. My mind went back 
two hundred and forty years, to the time when England's Embas- 
sador humbly sought, in the splendid city of Jehangeer, a foothold 
for the East India Company. How different the scene before us 
from what Tavernier saw when he beheld Shah Jehan in that 
magnificent court, seated on his jeweled "Peacock Throne !" Here 
was his lineal descendant a prisoner, while two English soldiers, 
with fixed bayonets, stood guard over him. It recalled the aston- 
ished exclamation of a seraph to another potentate in guilt and 
captivity, 

" If thou beest he ; but O, how fallen ! " 

It was just twelve months that very week since I saw the " Princes 
of Delhi " at the Benares Durbar, in all their pomp and finery, 
presented in turn to that kingly-looking man, the late Governor 
Colvin, himself a sacrifice to this rebellion. What one short year 
had done ! Many of those " Princes " were now filling the graves 
of traitors and murderers, while others of them were awaiting their 
trial and doom within a minute's walk of where I was standing. 
This wretched old man was then surrounded with imperial state, 
and living on his 1^900,000 per annum ; and now, here he was a 
guilty, forsaken, penniless king — a gazing stock, awaiting his doom. 
What a chansre ! 



TEE FALLEN EMPEBOB. 423 

The feelings with which we contemplated him were a strange 
mixture of interest, pity, and contempt. The reader will remem- 
ber the reflections of the Countess of Blessington when she met 
the mother of the fallen Napoleon leaning on the arm of the ex- 
king of Westphalia, as they wandered pensively amid the ruins of 
Rome. 

This case added another illustration of the poet's thought : 

" He who has worn a crown, 
When less than king is less than other men ; 
A fallen star extinguished, leaving blank 

Its place in heaven." 

But in the instance before us there seemed a lower depth of degra- 
dation than crowned head had ever reached before ; a profound of 
folly and guilt that forbade human sympathy, as was very truly set 
forth in the speech of the United States Minister at the great 
meeting in London four months before. 

As we entered, the Emperor looked up at us for a moment with 
a flash in his eye that was easily understood. We belonged to the 
white-faced race, and were of the religion that he detested ; and the 
man must have keenly felt, as we stood in his presence and looked 
at him, how fallen he then was. He, before whom and his prede- 
cessors multitudes had bowed down in such lowly prostration and 
homage, had then to realize that there was 

"None so poor to do him reverence." 

It was not possible, after all, to look at him without a measure of 
sympathy : "a star" that had shone for eight hundred years in this 
political " heaven " had fallen to the earth and was lying at our feet, 
its light extinguished forever. 

I asked the soldiers why the old gentleman was so closely 
guarded in that inclosed place .'' They replied, " Sir, it is not for 
feai- of his getting away, but to protect him from harm till he is 
tried." On expressing my surprise at this explanation, the man 
added, "Well, you see, sir, people are coming here every day to 
look at him — wives, whose husbands were killed by his Sepoys, 
and husbands whose wives were worse than killed. You see, sir, 



424 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

his was the name in which every thing was done, and when they 
look at him and reahze it all their feelings get the better of them, 
and they feel like flying at him and revenging their wrongs upon 
him, so we have to protect him." Yes, I saw it all ; and the bitter 
remembrance of the cruel deaths of some precious friends of my 
own at Bareilly, and elsewhere, seven months before, banished al] 
sympathy for this guilty author of their sufferings. In response tc 
some remark which I made to this effect, I saw the blood mount 
to the cheek of the soldier as, drawing back his hand in which 
was the bayonet, he said, with deep feeling, "Yes, sir, it would 
give me the greatest satisfaction to put this through the old 
rascal!" The honest earnestness of the man provoked a smile; 
and I thought, what would Sir Thomas Roe — England's first Em- 
bassador to this Court — say, could he rise from the dead, and, after 
all the reverence he paid here to "the divinity which hedged" 
these gorgeous kings, hear a common soldier of his nation express 
his disgust at having to act the jailer over the Great Mogul ! 

A day or two previously my friend, Rev. J. S. Woodside, Mis- 
sionary of the American Presbyterian Church, was here. He 
went to see the Emperor, and took the opportunity of conversing 
with him about Christianity. The old man assented to the general 
excellence of the Gospel, but stoutly declared that it was abro- 
gated by the Koran — as Moses and the law were abolished by 
Christ and the Gospel — so, he argued, Mohammed and the Koran 
had superseded Christ and every previous revelation. Brother 
Woodside calmly, but firmly, told him that, so far from this being 
the case, Mohammed was an impostor and the Koran a lie ; and 
that unless he repented and believed in Christ, and Christ alone, 
without doubt he must perisn in his sins. He then proceeded to 
enforce upon his bigoted hearer the only Gospel sermon which he 
had ever heard. And Brother Woodside was the very man to 
utter it. Was not his Church entitled to that privilege by the 
sacrifice of the precious lives of four of their Missionaries at Futty- 
ghur, as mentioned on page 151 ? 

It was a just and significant providence that in such a moment, 



BOYAL CAPTIVES AWAITING TRIAL. 425 

when this blasphemous usurpation, arrested by the hand of God, 
and about to be hurled from all its aspirations of supremacy over 
the mind of India, a Minister of Jesus Christ should, in this pres- 
ence, ring, as it were, the knell of its hopes, and utter those truths 
as the last Imperial representative of Oriental Mohammedanism 
was bidding a " long farewell to all his greatness," and the political 
power of his system was falling, 

" Like Lucifer, 
Never to hope again ! " 

My wife went in to see the Empress, and found her, with two of 
her maids, very plainly dressed and but poorly lodged. When she 
came out, she was not at all enthusiastic about the Empress's 
present beauty. Still, competent evidence declares that Zeenat 
Mahal, as she appeared in 1846, is faithfully represented in the 
picture presented on page in; but twenty years of such a life as 
she led in that Zenana, and the apprehension of guilt which she 
must then have felt, with the doom impending over her husband 
and house, all must have wrought sad changes in that once fair 
young face. 

From the Emperor we went to the cells where the other pris- 
oners were awaiting their trial. These cells were in a sort of offset 
from the palace grounds, in which stood the beautiful Dewanee 
Khass, and had doors of iron railing, through which the prisoners 
could glance across into the palace gardens beyond. It strikingly 
suggested the separation, and yet sight, of each other in the parable 
of the rich man and Lazarus. We walked past some of them, and 
it was sad to see within these iron doors, awaiting their fate, men 
like the Rajah of Dadree, the Nawab of Bullubghur, and others of 
their class. Twelve months before, these captives were occupying 
thrones, and governing their States in peace, under the protection 
of the paramount power of England ; and here they were now, 
awaiting their turn to be tried for treason, and, some of them, foi 
murder as well. They had sided with the Emperor, sending their 
troops and treasure to Delhi to aid him against the British, and his 
defeat and fall had dragged them down into the ruin which had 



426 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

overtaken him. A few of them were very gentlemanly-looking men, 
and courteous, salaaming to us as we passed them. But it was too 
painful to complete the entire round, so we walked sadly away. 

On the 27th of the following month the Emperor was put upon 
his trial in the Dewanee Khass, having counsel to aid in his de- 
fense, and, after a patient investigation lasting nineteen days, was 
found guilty on all the charges against him, and sentenced to be 
transported for life. Many thought the sentence too light ; but it 
was probably sufficiently severe thus to pass from a throne to the 
deck of a convict ship, to end his days among strangers. Zeenat 
Mahal and one other of his wives shared his exile. He died at 
Rangoon in 1861. Two years after, when in Burmah for the bene- 
fit of my health, I had the opportunity of passing by his lonely 
grave behind the quarter guard of the English lines. But no Taj 
or Mausoleum will ever rise over the spot where rests, solitary and 
alone, on a foreign shore and in a felon's grave, the last descendant 
of the Great Moguls ! 

The closing words in the defense of one of his own nobles, the 
Nawab of Bullubghur, whom I saw tried and sentenced to die in 
that same Dewanee Khass, might well apply to his Imperial master. 
The Nawab was a noble-looking man, with dark, lustrous eyes, and 
fine figure, clad in the usual style of an Oriental prince. There he 
stood, during those long hours, before that commission of English 
Officers, making the best defense he could for his life. 

He admitted the charge, but pleaded in extenuation, that in 
sending his wealth and troops to Delhi to help the Emperor he 
had acted under compulsion. This was known to be untrue, as it 
was well understood that he had acted freely and promptly, and 
had even submitted to circumcision, and forsaken his Hindoo faith, 
to curry favor with the rising Mohammedan power. 

He evidently felt, as he closed his address, that he was not be- 
lieved — that he was a doomed man. With considerable feeling, 
and in their figurative phraseology, he ended his defense with 
these words : " Gentlemen, one short year ago I sat on the topmost 
bough of prosperity and honor ; in an evil hour I lent my ear to 



WHY TREY FAILED. 427 

Other counsels — 1 sawed asunder the branch that sustained me, 
and th's is the result / " 

On Christmas day, 1857, I attended Christian worship in the 
Dewanee Khass — the first ever celebrated there. A crowded 
audience made its walls resound with the unwonted strains of 
Christian hymns ; and there that day the Gospel was preached and 
prayer was offered in the blessed Name so long blasphemed beneath 
that roof As I stood amid that throng, and remembered where 
I was, and what had there been said and done, and what was then 
transpiring, I realized that I was beholding one of the most won- 
drous victories ever consummated by the glorious Son of God over 
the enemies of himself and his holy religion. They had distinctly 
joined issue with Him on this very ground ; and here he was, in 
his almighty providence, victorious amid the utter overthrow of the 
wealthiest, most powerful, and implacable foes of his divinity and 
atonement; expelling them from the "Paradise" which they had 
profaned, and asserting his right, ere he consigned it forever to 
degradation and to ruin, to use even their Dewanee Khass for his 
own worship, and thus answer, in divine vengeance, the blasphemies 
against himself inscribed upon its walls. "Just and true are thy 
ways, thou King of saints ! " 

The crystal musnud, (throne,) the last remnant of its glorious 
furniture, was carried away, a present to the Queen of England. 
All veneration for the place seemed to cease by common consent ; 
the visitors and soldiers dug out the precious stones from the walls 
and pillars with their knives, and it was soon despoiled. A few 
weeks after,! saw its crenated arches built up with common sun- 
dried bricks, and the whole structure whitewashed and turned into 
a hospital for sick soldiers. Its destruction was at last complete ! 

The rebels failed, and that failure was both miserable and total. 
We may endeavor, as has been attempted by various writers, to 
account for that failure by their want of concert as to the time of 
commencement ; by the escape of nine tenths of those whom they 
intended to destroy ; by their want of leaders of ability, (though 
the Rebellion developed Tantia Topee and Kooer Singh ;) by the 



428 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

fierce contentions of their chiefs for supremacy, rank, and power ; 
by the fact that the Hindoos, disgusted and deceived, deserted 
the cause ; by the perfidy of the Mohammedans in the hour of their 
triumph; by the heroism and endurance of the British soldiers, 
invincible not only against overwhelming odds, but over the diffi- 
culties of climate, season, sickness, and deficiency of resources of 
all kinds. Yet, after all, while gratefully and cordially admitting 
to the full every one of these considerations, and all the aid uhich 
they involved in the terrible struggle, even wicked men in India 
in 1857 and 1858 were constrained to admit, and were prompt 
to acknowledge, that any or all of these combined could not and 
did not rescue us ; — that our salvation was, without a doubt, en- 
tirely due to the special interposition of Almighty God. It was the 
divine help that gave England's cause the victory, and gladly and 
gratefully did they, saint and sinner together, raise their private 
and public Ebenezers to Him who alone had saved them ! 

No attribute of the Almighty could take part with the Sepoy, 
the Brahmin, or the Mogul. Every hope for India was bound up 
with the defeat of their cruel, self-interested, and wicked purposes. 
Grateful India herself will yet place among her highest mercies 
the mighty overthrow of 1858. 

Mr. Rees has truly shown that the merits of this contest, on the 
part of the natives, was a frantic fear and hatred of the growing 
influence of Christianity ; that it was not a war of the oppressed 
against the oppressors, of a nation rising against their rulers, or of 
Hindustanees against Englishmen ; on the contrary, that it was a 
war of fanatical religionists against Christians, of barbarism against 
civilization, of error and darkness against truth and light. Had it 
been different — had patriotism prompted the rebellion — had the 
natives, as one nation, determined to shake off the yoke of the for- 
eigner, and had they conducted their war like soldiers and brave 
men, instead of acting the part of cowardly assassins, then indeed 
might they have enhsted sympathy for their cause among the civ- 
ilized nations of the earth, and found defenders and advocates 
among the people of England themselves. 



FREEDOM FOREIGN TO EASTERN MINDS. 429 

It is not easy to impart to an American reader a just idea of 
how far the people of India — nine hundred and ninety-nine out of 
every thousand of them — are from the knowledge of freedom, the 
appreciation of law, or the rights of constitutional government, as 
we understand such privileges. One of their own educated men 
speaks but the simple truth of them when he says : 

" The Oriental mind is decidedly wanting in the knowledge of 
the construction of a civil polity. It has never known, nor at- 
tempted to know, any other form of government than despotism. 
Political science and political reform appear, like the oak and the 
elm, to be the plants of the soil of Europe and America. Never 
has any effort been made for their introduction to the plains of 
Persia or the valley of the Ganges. Though the most important 
of all branches of human knowledge, politics have never engaged 
the attention of the people of the East. They have never studied 
the theory and practice of a constitutional government, never con- 
ceived any thing like republicanism, never understood emanci- 
pation from political servitude, never known a covenant between 
the subject and the sovereign. They have never had any patriot- 
ism or philanthropy, any common spirit and unity for the public 
weal, or what it is to govern for the good, not of the fewest, but of 
the greatest, number." — Travels of a Hindoo, Vol. II, p. 408. 

Progress, preservation of order, the physical and moral well-being 
of the people, the advance the world has made in humanity — a 
humanity that is extended even to the inferior animals — they do 
not understand. They have only just begun to dream about them, 
and, even for the dream of the blessed day that is dawning, they 
are (as the evidences which I have furnished show) wholly indebted 
to the Christianity which has come at last and breathed the thought 
into their slumbering souls. 
28 



430 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RESULTS OF THE REBELLION TO CHRISTJANITY AND CIVILIZATION. 

I ^ROM Delhi we went on to Meerut, where we remained two 
-■- months, while the troops were clearing the country of the 
scattered bands of Sepoys between that point and Cawnpore, and 
restoring order, so that mails and passengers might once more 
move up and down to Calcutta. More British troops had arrived, 
and the Commander-in-chief was directing the movements of the 
five columns into which the army was divided, our position at 
Meerut being about central to all the operations, and about forty 
miles from the nearest of them. 

Here I had the joy of again meeting our dear friend Lieutenant 
(now Colonel) Gowan, who escaped from Bareilly, and had been 
hidden for so many months in a Hindoo house, as narrated on 
page 248. He had managed at last to communicate with the 
English authorities here, and even before a sufficient length of the 
roads westward was clear, his rescue was attempted. The kind 
Hindoos who had sheltered him, when all had been arranged, took 
him by night in a bylee, (a native carriage used by ladies,) with 
the curtains closed, under pretense of going to the Ganges to 
bathe. A boat was quietly procured, and they ran him across the 
river to the other bank, where an elephant and a band of cavalry 
were awaiting him, and before sunrise he was safe in Meerut. 
How we rejoiced together ! The last time I saw this Christian 
officer (who used to help us occasionally in conducting our Hin- 
dustanee meeting) was in Bareilly on the evening before we leftj 
when I was trying, in our English service, to strengthen our hands 
in God by preaching from the text, "As thy day, so shall thy 
strength be." For nearly seven months, though in jeopardy every 
hour, did God fulfill to him that precious promise, till he saw fit to 



COLONEL 00 WAN 8 MUNIFLCENCE. 43 1 

terminate his captivity and bring him forth in safety, and now here 
we were again together, consulting about God's precious work. 

In the course of conversation I happened to remark that I was 
en route for Calcutta, when he suddenly lifted himself up, and 
looking me in the face, inquired, " What, are you going to leave 
the country ? " (fearing for the moment that I was discouraged and 
about to abandon the work.) I looked into his earnest counte- 
nance and replied, " Leave the country ! No, sir. The devil has 
done his worst, but he may be assured that we are not going to 
yield the field to him now that the fight is won. So far from it, I 
am going down to bring up the first band of my missionary breth- 
ren, with whom I expect soon to be preaching Christ through all 
Rohilcund." 

I shall long remember the immediate effect of my reply. He 
looked at me for a moment, then paused, and 

"Delight o'er all his features stole." 

His very moustache twitched again with pleasure, and, with a 
smile covering his entire countenance, he turned away, and said 
not another word. 

He made over to me an orphan boy whom he had rescued from 
danger and misery, to whom he had given his own name, and prom- 
ised to be responsible for his support and education from that day. 

This was the origin of our Boy's Orphanage, and its first mem- 
ber, thus received, was the son of a Sepoy officer killed in battle, 
the poor child being found on the back of an elephant, where his 
father had left him during the fight. In the midst of his sorrow 
he fell into the hands of Colonel Go wan, who promised to be a 
father to him, which pledge he has faithfully redeemed, and the 
orphanage is to-day its result. 

This devoted servant of God encouraged and stood by me in all 
my future plans for the extension of our mission. No other man 
in the East or in America has given half as much money to 
develop our work in India as Colonel Gowan has contributed. He 
aided me in procuring homes for the missionaries, in establishing 



432 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

our Orphanage and Training School, and he built and endowed the 
schools in Khera Bajhera, (the village where he was so long shel- 
tered,) so that his liberality to our mission work, up to the present, 
cannot be much less than ^15,000, and yet this liberal gentleman 
was a member of another Church — the Church of England ; but he 
is the type of a large and an increasing class of Christian English- 
men in India who prize our work, and are glad to aid it. 

Apropos of leaving the country, while in Meerut I received a 
letter from Brother Wentworth, in China, inviting me to join them 
in Foochow. He says : " If British predominance is not soon 
established, get leave of the Board and come on here, where there 
is as great need of laborers as in India." 

Well, that was all very good ; but, on reading further in the Doc- 
tor's letter, I was highly amused to find the guarantee of additional 
security which I was to enjoy by following the course suggested. 
My good brother added : " Last spring we were fearing the rebels 
might drive us from this station, and are not now without appre- 
hensions that the war between Canton and England may become 
a general one, and result in the temporary expulsion of all foreign- 
ers from the empire. In case of any sudden outbi-eak we are in 
an unfortunate situation for escape, being ten or twelve miles from 
the foreign shipping, and no vessel of war near. A sudden and 
decisive outbreak might cost us our lives at any moment." This 
for me would have been "out of the frying-pan into the fire" 
with a vengeance. Indeed, I thought my circumstances were 
every way preferable to his, so far as British predominance and 
personal security were concerned, and concluded that I might well 
return the compliment, and invite my good-natured brother, if 
driven from his post, to come and join me. 

However, it is our privilege to live by faith, and as the Doctoi 
observes, to " feel secure in the protection of Him who guides revo- 
lutions among the nations as he does tempests in the sky." 

I did not proceed to Calcutta, because, from the center which I 
then occupied, I was soon satisfied that the country was fast quiet- 
ing down, and that my brethren would be able immediately to join 



ENTERTAINED IN THE TAJ. 433 

me, when we could afterward proceed to our own field of labor and 
begin our work. 

While at Meerut my aid was requested, as one of "the Rohil- 
cund Refugees," to help the Postmaster in the melancholy task of 
looking over the bags of letters, directed to gentlemen in that pro- 
Wnce by their correspondents at home in England, which had 
accumulated there for months. I could tell who were dead, and, 
generally, where the others were scattered, so as to intimate how 
he should direct them. It was a sad sight to see the pile of letters 
from anxious friends which had to be returned to England, because 
those addressed were no longer among the living. 

Early in March it seemed practicable to have the two mission- 
aries and their wives join me. The only portion of the way where 
there was any danger was from Cawnpore to within twenty miles 
of Agra, from parties of Sepoys crossing the Grand Trunk road. 
The telegraph had been restored, and the mails were coming twice 
a day. I went on from Meerut to Agra, to get into direct com- 
munication with them. Through the kindness of the Postmaster 
and the use of the telegraph, I kept myself well acquainted with 
the condition of the road as they advanced. They had directions 
to call at every telegraph office which they passed, so that if there 
had been any danger ahead of them I could at once have stopped 
them at any station, until it had passed away ; but, by the " good 
hand of God upon them," they reached me at Agra in perfect safety 
on the the nth of March. The destroyed houses of the English 
were still in ruins, and the people all in the Fort, which was crowded ; 
so that at first I did not know where or how I could prepare for 
them a night's lodging, ere they resumed their journey on to Meerut. 
But in these circumstances I thought the magnificent Taj none too 
good for them. So I arranged all, and on their arrival had them 
comfortably lodged in this "Wonder of the World." Ours was a 
joyful meeting, and the splendid Taj Mahal was worthy to be the 
scene of it. 

Little did Shah Jehan, or his bigoted Moomtaj-i-Mahal, imagine 
that a day would come when this matchless mausoleum would be 



434 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

occupied by a party of Christian missionaries, at a time, too, when 
the last Mogul of their line — after an effort to fulfill the carnelian 
prohibition upon her cenotaph, and carry out Jehan's fierce order, 
'' Expel those idolaters from my dominions ! " — would be himself a 
prisoner awaiting his doom, in the hands of that very " tribe," (see 
page 147 ;) or that these missionaries would, as we did, promenade 
in peace, in the delicious moonlight, through that lovely garden 
which he planted, and sing our Christian doxology, with unction 
and glowing hearts, standing over their very dust, and in the pres- 
ence of that powerless and mistaken prohibition ! 

We left the Taj the following afternoon, by way of Meerut, for 
Nynee Tal, as we could there best devote ourselves to the acquisi- 
tion of the language, and be ready to descend to Bareilly and our 
other stations when God had prepared our way, after the reoccupa- 
tion of Rohilcund by the English Government. Joel had been 
directed to join us on the route. Notwithstanding the distance 
and danger, all was correctly timed and safely accomplished. The 
day after I received the Missionaries at the Taj Mahal, I joyfully 
clasped Joel's hand once more, on the road to Meerut. It was to 
both of us like life from the dead. His devoted wife remained 
under the care of her mother till Rohilcund and Oude were cleared 
of the rebels, when she rejoined us at Lucknow, from which place 
I afterward moved them to Bareilly, where we were again together 
on the scene of our former sufferings. 

We reached Nynee Tal in safety, and at once entered upon our 
mission work, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing a little con- 
gregation collected. We also commenced a Christian day-school 
for the native children in the Bazaar. 

I present a rough sketch of our first chapel, drawn by Sister 
Pierce. Our room having become inconveniently small for the 
number of natives attending the preaching, we greatly needed some 
larger plac'e for worship. The only building available then was a 
sheep-house, which stood on the side of a hill. This, we concluded, 
could be turned into a chapel. It was done in three or four days. 
We cleared it out ; a quantity of clay was thrown in and leveled, 



tJi 




THE SHEEP-HOUSE CONGREGATION. 437 

which, beaten down, made a good floor. I whitewashed it, Brothers 
Pierce and Humphrey made the benches, and Joel saw to the 
leveHng of the ground outside. When it was finished and swept 
out, though too humble to have a formal or public "dedication" 
awarded it, yet I resolved that a hearty consecration to God's 
service it should not lack ; so, shutting the door, and all alone, I 
kneeled down and offered up to the condescending God of mercy 
this humblest of all the " places where he records his name," and 
earnestly besought him to make it the birthplace of some of those 
poor, dark souls that, during the ensuing six months, would come 
to worship there. 

When Sunday arrived, the smiles and congratulations of our 
ladies were really delightful. They could not imagine how we had 
made such a commodious-looking affair out of such a place as it 
had been. "Why, it looks almost like a church !" they said. Even 
the poor natives caught the spirit of the occasion, and, as they came 
in and seated themselves, looked around smihng and nodding to 
each other. 

The entire cost of fitting up, including the boards and nails for 
the seats, was four dollars and thirty-six cents. Only missionaries 
— and missionaries under such circumstances — could adequately 
appreciate our joy over this humble commencement. 

I also present another sketch, (on the top of the next page,) that 
will give an idea of the appearance of our congregation inside the 
"Sheep-House" Chapel. 

The reader can imagine that he sees yoel preaching, and we 
sitting around him, the congregation being in front. The women 
sit on the benches to the right ; the men in the center. Two poles, 
supporting the roof, run up in the center of the house. 

We occupied this humble place for some months, when our wor- 
thy commandant, Colonel Ramsay, (to whom, next to Colonel 
Gowan, our mission is most indebted for munificent financial aid,) 
seemg our earnestness and success, resolved that we should have 
a house more worthy of our cause. The result was the erection of 
our Nynee Tal chapel, costing about $2,500, the whole amount 



438 



THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



Aiify ^ /AiS^ "^ MOiflX 



iC\ll 



^<<^. ^ 






r, 



<(il 



1^:2^ 






:i^' 






J-J 



— -^^- FELTEP Sc/ 



The Sheep-house Congregation. 

being subscribed by the Colonel and his acquaintances and friends 
in Nynee Tal and Almorah. 

Lucknow was recaptured, and the English Government restored 
there, at the close of March. The defeated Sepoys fled into Rohil-- 
cund, or across the Grand Trunk Road into Central India, with the 
columns of British troops in pursuit. Jhansee and Gwalior were 
recaptured, and Kooer Singh and the Ranee of Jhansee killed. 
This was followed by the capture and death of Tantia Topee. 
Most of the other chiefs surrendered, and the columns were at last 
turned northward for the pacification of Rohilcund. Three of 
them, including the one led by the Commander-in-chief, were to 
concentrate on Bareilly, then viewed as " the metropolis of the 
revolt." On the 5 th of May, within a few hours of each other, and 
from opposite directions, they approached that city. Sir Colin 
Campbell led his column by the Futtyghur road, General Penny 
his by the Allyghur road, through Budaon, and General Jones the 
third, by way of Moradabad. Here was to be the last great effort, 
and it was fought, the dispatch says, amid " a mass of one-storied 
houses in front of the British lines," that is, it was fought on the 
very ground where I had lived, our ruined house and garden being 
by the road-side, between the cantonments and the city, in the very 



THE BATTLE OF BAEEILLT. 439 

center of the contest, the walls of the houses giving shelter to the 
Sepoys as they awaited the onslaught of the Commander-in-chief's 
forces. 

The rebels were headed by the Nana Sahib of Cawnpore, Prince 
Feroze Shah of Delhi, and Khan Bahadur of Bareilly, and with 
them was the Begum of Oude and her troops. So here, as it hap- 
pened, were concentrated for the final effort the living representa- 
tives of the four great centers of the Sepoy Rebellion. Their 
resolve and fighting on that dreadful day were worthy of the des- 
perate cause and the desperate men, who well knew that this was 
to be their final chance ; that here, at last, it was to be for them 
either death or victory. The 42d and 79th Highlanders bore the 
brunt of the struggle, which was short and sharp. A body of 
Ghazees (Mohammedan fanatics of the most desperate character) 
led the Sepoys. These men, sword in hand, with their bossed 
bucklers on their left arms, and their characteristic green waist- 
bands, rushed out of their concealment to the attack, brandishing 
their tulwars over their heads, and shrieking out their favorite cry, 
" Bismillah Allah ! deen ! deen !" (" Glory to Allah ! the faith ! the 
faith ! ") In the confusion they were not recognized as distin- 
guished from the Sikhs, who were fighting with the British, till 
they came close on the side of the 42d Highlanders. The Com- 
mander-in-chief had just time to cry out, " Steady, men, steady ! 
close up ; bayonet them ;" when the struggle ensued. Russell, 
the " special correspondent " of the London Times, who was pres- 
ent, gives a vivid picture of this fearful moment. He himself was 
wounded, as were General Walpole, Colonel Cameron, and others, 
for the Ghazees seem to have made straight for the officers ; but 
the quick bayonets of the 42d closed around them, and in ten min- 
utes the dead bodies of the devoted band (as their name implies) 
were lying in the circle. Not a man of the one hundred and 
thirty-three turned back. They all believed, according to the 
tenets of their creed, that they were martyrs, and were sure of 
paradise if they fell. 

Nearly twenty of the Highlanders were wounded in the struggle, 



440 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

the Commander-in-chief having had a narrow escape. A Ghazee, 
with tulwar in hand, was lying, feigning death, in front of him, and 
as he approached, the fellow sprang to his feet to kill him, when 
the quick eye of a mounted Sikh soldier saw the move, and (Rus- 
sell says) "with a whistling stroke of his saber he cut off the 
Ghazee's head with one blow, as if it had been the bulb of a 
poppy ! " General Penny was killed near Kukrowlee. The Com- 
mander-in-chief had only a skeleton staff He had completely 
" used up " more than one set of officers, and on this occasion 
had only his chief of staff. General Mansfield, with Captain John- 
son, to aid him. Under such circumstances the battle of Bareilly 
was fought and won before the sun went down. Early next morn- 
ing the city was attacked, but it was found that during the night 
the Sepoys had fled, with Khan Bahadur and the other rebel lead- 
ers. The city surrendered at once, save some Ghazees, whose 
positions had to be stormed. A timely proclamation of am- 
nesty to all save notorious rebels and murderers, with precautions 
to prevent any plundering, restored confidence to the terrified 
inhabitants, and they willingly submitted once more to British 
rule and protection. 

It was at this spot that the Nana Sahib last saw the face, and 
witnessed the prowess, of the white man ; and it was from this bat- 
tle-field he took that departure for the jungles of Oude mentioned 
on page 309 of this work. It is some satisfaction to have the 
assurance from good authority that two, at least, of the companions 
of his flight, the Begum of Oude and Prince Feroze Shah, de- 
nounced his cruel treachery at Cawnpore, as having brought the 
curse of God upon the native cause. The deadly. Terai was but 
forty-eight miles away. It was the only shelter in all India that was 
open to receive them. He and his companions, and the remnants 
of the rebel host, entered its malarious inclosures, and, save Khan 
Bahadur, who lagged behind in its outskirts, and was captured and 
brought back to Bareilly, the rest of the unhappy crew found sick- 
ness, despair, and death within its gloomy shades. Thus, in the 
providence of God, ended the great Sepoy Rebellion, and the 



VISIT TO MT RUINED HOME. 44 1 

twelve months of its Mohammedan misrule and cruelty closed 
amid the dying groans of its emissaries at the foot of our hills, and 
almost within sight of our place of refuge. 

Our impatience now to go down to our work in the plains was 
sorely tried by the refusal of the Commander-in-chief to permit us 
to do so for some weeks longer — the ladies he would not allow to do 
so till October, not only because the country needed to be cleared 
and quieted, but also because houses had first to be built for them. 
At length the permission came for gentlemen to go down, and taking 
the road to Moradabad, lest that through the Terai, on the Huldwa- 
nee side, might have straggling Sepoys in it, we reached Bareilly 
on the 28th of August. We found every thing, of course, much 
changed. The burned houses and bare walls had a look of fearful 
desolation about them. 

On entering Bareilly I went, first of all, to my own residence, 
(which was so, fifteen months before.) Nothing was standing bat 
the bare walls ; the floors were all grown over with deep grass. I 
called a coolie, and dug up the rubbish in my once comfortable study, 
and we soon came on the charred remains of my precious books. 
All had been destroyed by fire ! I took up a handful of the burnt 
paper, and of the melted glass of the book-cases, as a memento, and 
walked away to the spot where Maria lay buried beside the rose 
hedge, and then on to where Joel's house stood. What a change 
from the day I last stood there ! But no murmuring thought arose. 
It was all well : " Blessed be the name of the Lord ! " We were to 
begin again, and that, too, under brighter prospects than India ever 
knew before. I wandered all over Bareilly. The people were very 
civil. I knew that I loved them then better than I had ever done, 
and felt sure that God would yet have mercy upon them, and that 
we should soon see days of grace in Bareilly. 

I then wandered off toward the encampment of the English 
troops, and one of the first gentlemen whom I met was our dear, good 
friend Dr. Bowhill, safe from Delhi, and the rest of his campaigns. 
The warm-hearted Scotchman hugged me up to his heart, and wept 
for joy that we should meet again, after all we had gone through, 



442 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA.. 

on the same old ground where we first met, and where God had 
blessed his soul in the dark days before the mutiny. 

And then I found kind General Troup, to whose prudence we 
owed our lives. He was in command of Havelock's Brigade, and 
worthy of the position. The excellent Magistrate also received us 
cordially, and advised an immediate commencement of our work, 
promising to aid us in every way. Before I was twenty-four hours 
in Bareilly a subscription was started to help us in organizing our 
missions. That financial liberality has continued, year by year in- 
creasing, to this day ; those excellent men, in the civil and military 
service of England, have since furnished the means required to 
carry on our system of Christian schools and our Orphanages, aver- 
aging over $10,000 gold per annum.* We promised, as soon as our 
Mission in Lucknow was commenced, to begin the work at Bareilly. 
At the latter we could not yet find shelter, but in Lucknow houses 
could at once be obtained, by the assistance of Sir Robert Mont- 
goniery, the successor of Sir Henry Lawrence in the government 
of Oude. He was kind enough to write to me and advise our imme- 
diate occupancy of that city, and we were now en route to do so. 

The Sabbath was a blessed day. The troops (two thousand seven 
hundred men) then stationed in Bareilly were chiefly Scottish regi- 
ments. The Chaplain being sick, the General commanding sent to 
request that I would undertake the chaplain's duties for the Sab- 
bath. Of course I gladly did so. My opportunity was one I shall 
never forget. Arriving on the parade-ground, I found the troops 
drawn up. I took my stand ; the men were formed in a " hollow 
square," the drum of the regiment was placed before me, and a 
Bible and Psalm Book lay upon it. The General and his officers 
stood beside me, and the band behind. I gave out the one hun- 
dredth Psalm, and the music and voices rose up on the Sabbath 
air to heaven. I then prayed with an overflowing heart, and stood 
up to preach " the glorious liberty of the sons of God." 

My emotions almost overwhelmed me when I looked at my audi- 
ence. For who were the men that stood around me } These were 



CONDUGTma WORSHIP FOB HAVELOGK'S MEN. 443 

HavelocJ^s heroes ! the illustrious warriors who first relieved the 
garrison of Lucknow. Yes, these brave men before me had per- 
formed one of the greatest military feats known to history, and did 
it, too, notwithstanding that they lost nearly one half of their 
number in its execution. I looked at their sun-browned faces, and 
thought of the manly tears they shed when, covered with dust and 
smoke, they rushed through the last street and into the " Residency" 
among the men and women whom they had suffered so much to 
rescue, and, snatching up the children in their arms, thanked God 
" that they were in time to save them ! " 

Noble men ! I realized, as I stood before them, that their fame be- 
longs to oumdition as much as to their own. And I shall ever esteem 
it one of the highest privileges of my life that I was permitted to 
preach, and that, too, on the very ground of their last battle-field, to 
the men that General Havelock led to the relief of Lucknow ! 

Though it anticipates the time somewhat, I may here mention 
that Khan Bahadur was captured and brought into Bareilly. He 
and four or five others were confined in the little fort, awaiting their 
trial. Wishing to see my old neighbor, and say a word to him 
before he died, I obtained permission to do so, accompanied by 
Rev. Mr. Humphrey. There, in his cell, we found Khan Bahadur, 
his long white beard hanging down nearly to his waist. It was a 
trying moment for us both. Here was the man who sent to my 
house to kill me and my family, who expressed his deep disappoint- 
ment at our having escaped his hands, and who afterward set a 
price upon my head ! This was the man, too, who had deliberately 
murdered Judge Robertson, Judge Raikes, Dr. Hay, and many 
more of my acquaintance ! 

What a curious thing is human nature ! Here was a criminal, 
of whose deep guilt no one that knew him could have the least 
doubt ; and yet an author like Montgomery Martin, who never saw 
him, and had no adequate knowledge of his desperate wickedness, 
half undertakes to whitewash his ensanguined fame ! But this is 
consistent with Mr. Martin's course, in his efforts to find cause of 
commiseration for the Delhi Emperor, while he seems to exhibit 



444 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

but scanty sympathy for the victims ol the Delhi court — an author 
who can indulge in cold-hearted and cynical criticism upon such men 
as Sir R. Montgomery and Sir Henry Lawrence, who went through 
fiery trials of responsibility of which he, in his comfortable London 
home, ten thousand miles away from their danger, could have little 
idea. I am sorry to write these words. But I was there, he was 
not ; and I know whereof I affirm, and can conscientiously say 
that I consider some of Mr. Martin's representations in his " Lidian 
Empire " to be unworthy of the confidence of the American pub- 
lic. His slurs and innuendoes caused deep feeling in the minds 
of some of the best men in India, many of whom were not at all 
his intellectual inferiors, while they were his superiors in opportu- 
nities for forming correct opinions. They had not to depend, as he 
seems to have done for some of his representations, upon hasty and 
partial statements, or such writers as " Bull-Run Russell ! " His 
glorification of Sir Colin Campbell and Sir James Outram, to the 
prejudice of General Havelock and Sir John Lawrence, only shows 
that he had his favorites, and would belittle other men to make 
them look greater. But we in India knew the difference, and it 
was the conviction of many there, competent to give an opinion 
upon such matters, that Sir Colin Campbell was not only slow, but 
that he did nothing more than what any brave English officer could 
have done with the same resources. As to Sir James Outram, so 
far as the establishment of Christianity in the Valley of the Ganges 
is concerned, I know from my own personal intercourse with both, 
and their actions, that we may have great reason to be thankful 
that Sir James Outram was superseded, and the evangelically cou- 
rageous Sir Robert Montgomery was appointed to be ruler of Oude 
during the founding of our Mission in that kingdom. 

Mr. Martin's peculiar notions on the lawfulness or expediency of 
capital punishment must have been often offended by the events of 
the time. It would, however, have been but fair to have extended 
the benefit of his doctrine as fully to the victims of the Sepoys as 
to the Sepoys themselves. It may, however, be doubted if his nar- 
rative shows this clearly. The consideration he seems so ready to 



VISIT TO KEAN BAHADUR IN PRISON. 445 

exhibit for the Sepoys is an anomaly not easily accounted for ; but 
he has found few sympathizers. I would not speak too harshly, 
even of a criminal ; yet I will take the responsibility of saying, that 
I never saw or heard of men to whom, more appropriately or deserv- 
edly than to the Sepoys and their chiefs, could be applied the terri- 
ble character given by the Holy Spirit, when he so fully describes 
those whose profanity, crimes, and riot, exhibit them " as natural 
brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed." 2 Peter ii, 12. 
They were men who neither knew nor showed mercy, any more than 
would be exhibited by the tigers of their own jungles ; and toward 
whom the most just and saintly magistrate on earth would be guilty, 
before God and human society, if he should not firmly "bear the 
sword " until he had, at least, controlled their cruelty, and stopped 
their power for further mischief. 

Mr. Martin has not increased his fame by thus obtruding upon 
his countrymen his mistaken and conceited assumptions of " impar- 
tiality" toward bloodthirsty wretches who, as a class, so generally 
(1 might almost say universally) proved themselves ready, from the 
first hour to the last, to become the destroyers of churches, the 
murderers of the ministers of God, and the slayers of undefended 
women and children. 

But to return to Khan Bahadur. He asked me how had I 
escaped "i I told him. He seemed uneasy, and evidently thought 
that my visit was in some way connected with his approaching 
trial. I assured him that he might dismiss all anxiety upon that 
point — my testimony was not required. Far worse than I could 
present had been heaped up by his own fearful actions, and was 
now ready for his condemnation. I had come, with my brother 
Missionary, to visit him with a kind intention ; that I forgave hira 
all the harm he did me in the destruction of my home and prop- 
erty, and the more serious harm which he intended to do in taking 
our lives ; that our only object in coming was to converse with him 
about his poor soul, which would so soon have to appear before 
God, as we felt sure that his days were numbered, and he could not 

hope for mercy here, in view of the past ; and we closed by entreat- 
29 



446 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

ing him to turn to God in penitence, and seek pardon through the 
Lord Jesus, who died for him and for all sinners. This was done 
in a very kind manner by Brother Humphrey, and I hoped the old 
man would have been impressed by it ; but his Mohammedan big- 
otry rose up bitterly against the Saviour's atonement, and he would 
not admit his necessity of any such help. The Koran was enough ; 
he wanted nothing more, and wished to hear nothing else. 

I saw him tried before two judges. He was defended by a 
native lawyer, who managed the sad case as well as he could. Mr. 
Moens, an English magistrate, prosecuted. The old Nawab's 
policy was to deny every charge, but any number of native wit- 
nesses were ready to come forward and prove them. On the 
afternoon of the second or third day the trial was closed in con- 
nection with a singular forgetfulness of his. A witness on the 
stand was testifying to the color of the robes which Khan Baha- 
dur wore on the day when he witnessed the exposure of the bodies 
of the murdered English people at the Kotwalie. The old man 
had denied that he was there at all, but, forgetting himself in his 
rage against the witness, who swore it was a blue dress he had on, 
Khan Bahadur turned to him and said, " You lie, you rascal ! it 
was not blue, it was a greeji dress that I wore." The look of blank 
astonishment that came over the face of the native lawyer at his 
client's acknowledgment was a study, while Mr. Moens turned 
toward the judges and merely remarked, " Your honors hear the 
admission of the prisoner." The trial closed that afternoon. He 
was condemned to be hanged at the Kotwalie. He passed me on 
his way to execution in a cart, sitting on his coffin, with a guard of 
the 42d Highlanders around him, lest the Mohammedans should 
interpose any trouble ; but they attempted none ; there seemed to 
be among the natives a general acquiescence in his doom, as one 
that had been fully deserved. 

A medical friend went down to see him executed. On his 
return he told me what had occurred, remarking, " I had some 
sympathy for the old man, but his wicked utterance at the close 
took it all away." The facts were these : when Khan Bahadur 



ROW KHAN BAHADUR DIEU. 447 

mounted the scaffold and stood on the trap, which was about to be 
drawn from beneath his feet, the rope resting loosely on his shoul- 
ders, and the cap ready to be drawn down, Mr. Moens, who had 
acted as council against him on his trial, and was now acting as 
sheriff, stepped forward and said, " Khan Bahadur, have yo a any 
thing to say before you die ? " " Yes," was the prompt reply, " I 
have two things to say : first, I hate you ;" and then added, speak- 
ing as an Oriental, and using the certain for the uncertain number, 
while his face lit up with a glow of awful gratification, " but, 
Moens, I have had the satisfaction of killing a thousand Christian 
dogs, and I would kill a thousand more now, if I had the power." 

Ten minutes after, that man stood in the presence of the Judge 
of all, and he went into eternity with the Mohammedan conviction 
that, in killing Christians, he had been doing God service, and 
consequently his crown of martyrdom would be all the brighter for 
every life which he had sacrificed ; hence his confidence and exul- 
tation in that fearful moment. 

We left Bareilly for Lucknow, attended to Futtyghur (seventy- 
four miles) by relays of sowars, (native cavalry,) the General con- 
sidering the precaution still necessary. On reaching Futtyghur 
we went to the mission premises. But what a ruin ! When I was 
last there, the beloved brethren and sisters of the Presbyterian mis- 
sion were surrounded by a happy, native Christian community, 
engaged in supporting themselves by tent-making and other 
employment, and in the center of the village stood their nice 
church ; but all was destroyed and desecrated now, and these dear 
Missionaries and their wives were numbered among "the noble 
army of martyrs." 

We pushed on for Lucknow. It was the month of September. 
How well we could understand now, what Havelock and his men 
must have gone through during that month last year ! My entry, 
made at the time, tells of the torrents of rain, of the flooded 
country, and of having to cross unbridged rivers twenty times in 
that seventy miles. We were twenty-six hours going about twenty- 
five of these miles The rain, the mud, and the slippery way 



448 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

were very trying ; yet Havelock had to take an army over this very 
ground, and at the same season. Here he had to fight battles, 
carry his wounded, and sustain his men. The Ganges had so 
overflowed its banks that it was nearly five miles wide where we 
crossed it. 

At Cawnpore we visited "the Well" of sad memories, and the 
Shrine, (then being built)and the Intrenchments, and Ghat, and con- 
versed with Private Murphy, the only survivor in India of the ter- 
rible massacre. 

On reaching Lucknow we were most kindly received at Govern- 
ment House, no longer the Residency, but a building in another 
part of the city. Mr. (now Sir Robert) Montgomery welcomed us 
with the cordiality of a Christian, requesting us to consider his 
house our home till we could obtain a mission residence, and offer- 
ing to aid us in every way within his power. He believed in Mis- 
sions, and in the ability of God's truth to reach the hearts even of 
the turbulent race whom he ruled. 

After breakfast next morning I started off to explore Lucknow. 
Going out of the door, how well I remembered the last time I went 
through it, starting from the Residency on the back of an elephant, 
guarded by a Sepoy all day. But Mr. Montgomery did not offei 
me an elephant on this occasion, and there were no Sepoys to at- 
tend me. So I walked off, quite content to have it so, and was not 
ten minutes in the Bazaar till it was all explained. The change 
was amazing, even already. Instead of every man being armed 
with tulwar and shield, nobody bore a weapon, save the native 
police. Every person seemed to be minding his own business. 
The shop-keeper's sword was no longer on his counter, yet his 
goods seemed safe enough. Mr. Montgomery had disarmed the en- 
tire population, and taught them that they must no longer fight 
and wound each other. If they had a quarrel, they must not take 
the law into their own hands ; the courts were open to them, and 
they must go there and have the magistrate settle it for them. 
They submitted, and seemed amazed how well the new arrange- 
ment worked. Never before had it been so seen in Lucknow. It 



RESULTS VIEWED FROM THE RESIDENCY. 449 

was the new and wonderful reign of law and equal justice in the 
land of the Sepoy, 

The public, shameless vice, that so shocked me when I last 
passed throMgh these streets, was no longer seen. It had been 
told it must retire, and cease to shock virtue and decency by its 
hateful presence. The order, the industry, and the propriety of 
the streetS; were to me simply marvelous ; and the people were so 
civil — making their salaam as I passed along, much gratified to 
find that I returned their courtesy. And this was Lucknow, with 
its hundreds of thousands of people, and I, a white face, alone and 
unarmed among them ! I could hardly believe my own senses. 
But it was just so ; and I felt that we might almost conclude that 
the city was already about half saved. 

Yet there was enough to remind 3^ou of the savage and cruel 
past. The houses were all bullet marked, and some blown to 
pieces. There still remained the mud walls on the roofs, pierced 
for musketry, behind which knelt the fierce Sepoy as he so safely 
poured his deadly bullets on Havelock's men as they fought their 
way along the streets on which I was then so peacefully walking: 
I went straight to "The Residency." No words could do justice to 
the change from what it was when I stood there eighteen months 
before ! Battered out of all recognition, yet still a glorious monu- 
ment of what brave men can do and endure in a worthy cause. 

So here we stand, in the capital of the Sepoy, and on the spot 
where he did his utmost, and found even that no match for Chris- 
tian heroism. Now let us, in closing this chapter, take our rapid 
review of results achieved by the valor so gloriously illustrated on 
this spot. The former and the present are here, and the future 
opens, while, before our face, old things are passing away, and all 
things are becoming new. We recognize the blessed changes ; 
changes for which India nerself will yet adore the Providence 
which refused her victory to her own ruin. God has subjected 
her "in hope" that she "shall be delivered from the bondage of 
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." 

And, first, as to the great Sepoy Army. This military monster, 



450 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

recruited chiefly from the Brahmin class, had, amid all their igno- 
rance and unreasoning bigotry, grown into a full knowledge of its 
own power. They well knew that they were united in a common 
class interest, could dictate their own terms, and had the Govern- 
ment at their mercy. They were pampered to the last degree by 
their timid and politic rulers. The stronger they grew, the more 
dangerous they became, and sooner or later a fearful conflict with 
them was inevitable ; and the longer it was deferred, the more de- 
structive it must be to the weaker party. Even now it makes one 
shudder to remember how completely we were in the power of 
these cruel and wicked men. All this is now changed. That 
vast combination of brute force, with its ignorance and fanaticism, 
has melted away. Only two regiments remain, who, I fear, more 
from peculiar combinations of circumstances than from any special 
virtue of their own, remained loyal, and wear to-day the title of 
^'Wufadarsl' (faithful;) all the rest of the mighty host has van- 
ished away. 

Nor did they fall alone — they dragged down into their hideous 
ruin the whole class from which they were recruited. A large 
portion of the towns and villages of Oude was a mere Sepoy train- 
ing ground for the East India Company. Here, for generations, 
the inhabitants contemplated no other employment save service in 
the Company's army. At twice the compensation of artisans, with 
easy times, and decked out in the pomp of military array, these 
men lived in comparative affluence, and on the expiration of their 
term of service, they were retired on pensions for life equal to 
about half their pay. So that there were three generations of 
Sepoys in these villages in 1857, namely, the serving Sepoys, 
and as pensioners, their fathers and their grandfathers ; and when 
the active force threw off their allegiance to the Government of 
Great Britain, and lost their cause, tne reaction against them 
was so great, that, at one swoop, the Government which they had 
outraged cut off them and theirs from the rolls forever. Pay and 
pensions ceased, and two hundred thousand Sepoys, invalided and 
active, were thrown upon their own resources, and reduced to 



EFFECT ON THE MOHAMMEDANS. 45 1 

hopeless poverty. The old fathers and grandfathers were mad- 
dened by the result, and when the defeated Sepoys, those of them 
who escaped death on the field or in the jungle, came slinking, in 
disgrace and fear, back to their native villages, they soon realized 
that their bitterest foes were " they of their own household." They 
were driven out with taunts and hatred by their own fathers, whom 
their perfidy had reduced to ruin. The quiet peasantry on whom 
they had brought the calamities of war had no sympathy to bestow 
on them. Hooted with curses and contempt from their homes, 
afraid to associate together save in the jungles, lest the eyes of the 
Government should see and pursue them, many of these wretched 
men became fugitives and vagabonds. 

Driven to the dire necessity by actual hunger, some of them 
threw off their lordly Brahminical assumptions, and were glad to 
go between the handles of a plow, to turn up the soil for an honest 
living, like common men — a wonderful fact, and one that people 
did not dream of in 1856. It was one of the most fearful blows 
that Caste and Brahminism ever received, and has forever lowered 
the prestige of that proud class in India. A mixed native army, 
to more limited numbers, formed out of all creeds and parties, has 
taken their place, while the amount of British soldiers has been 
more than doubled, and the forts, arsenals, and magazines of India 
are henceforth in their safe keeping. 

Second. Equally marked have been the results of the great 
Rebellion upon the Mohammedan portion of the population. To 
conciliate these people is impossible. Nothing less than the con- 
viction and grace that can lead a Romanist to esteem and love 
evangelical Christians, can ever induce a Mohammedan to become 
a willing subject of a Christian power. Till then their insolence 
has to be borne with, and their rage controlled by a firm, but 
humane, hand. They were in this case the greatest sinners, and 
they are the greatest sufferers. Their imperial pretensions, with 
their dynasty, have sunk into the dust forever. Their hopes of 
supremacy are utterly annihilated ; their nobles fill the graves of 
traitors and murderers. They, themselves, are distrusted by all, 



452 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

and hated with a double intensity by the Hindoo race, whom they 
first misled and deceived, and then oppressed, during their brief 
term of power. The worst that they can do is now well known, 
and they are well aware that they are no longer feared. An amaz- 
ing submission has been developed, showing how effectually the 
proud, imperious conceit has been whipped out of them. 

In illustration of this fact, I will ask the reader's indulgence 
while relating an incident, rather " free and easy " in its character, 
but one which made a lasting impression upon my mind. It will 
point its own moral much better perhaps than a dozen sober facts 
could do. 

Three weeks after my arrival in Lucknow, as the result of dili- 
gent search, we found premises for sale in the Husseinabad Bazaar, 
which seemed just what we needed for our Mission establishment. 
They belonged to a relative of the ex-King, a Nawab, or native 
nobleman, whose reduced circumstances made him glad to dispose 
of them. All being ready for payment, I went with this gentleman 
to the English magistrate's Court, to have the deed recorded and 
the cash paid, and have the signature and seal of the Court added, 
to render all safe and valid. The Court, for want of a more suit- 
able place, was then held in the splendid Tomb of Asaf-ud-Dou- 
lah, second King of Oude. This was situated in the west end of 
that great Bazaar ; the Fort, occupied by English soldiers, being at 
the other end ; and between these two points, at any business hour 
of the day, you could find eight or ten thousand men lounging 
about or engaged in trade. Eighteen months before, such was the 
turbulence there, that a Mohammedan yell of " Deen, deen!" 
would have brought a mob of probably five thousand men around 
you in five minutes, every man armed and used to weapons, for 
many of them had served as Sepoys — all ready for any deed of 
violence or blood, in which they had the example of the vile 
Mohammedan Court then in Lucknow. It may be doubted if 
there was then a more cornbustible and fanatical scene any where 
on earth than that Bazaar held. Mr. Mead's description of it, on 
page 211, will be remembered by the reader. 



THE IRISHMAN IN THE LUGKNOW GOJJBT. 453 

Passing through the crowds we reached the Court, which was 
filled, only the aisle in front of the table, down to the door, being 
unoccupied. Mr. Wood, the magistrate, was in his place, and we 
took seats on either side of him, and all business was quietly pro- 
ceeding, when a tumult outside, in the Bazaar, attracted our atten- 
tion, and in a few moments in rushed a Jamadar (sergeant) of 
police, followed by six of his men, all in a wonderful hurry and 
excitement. The Jamadar was a large, heavy man, rigged out with 
a red pugree (turban) on his head, and a red kummer-bund around 
his waist, with his tulwar tucked under his arm, his men being sim- 
ilarly decorated and accoutered. His face was flushed, for he had run 
hard ; and, having for the moment lost his breath, when he drew up 
in front of the magistrate's table, and joined his hands to address 
him, the man could not say a word for a few seconds. At length 
he gasped out, " O Sahib, burra tukleef Bazaar men hai ! " (O, sir, 
there is dreadful trouble in the Bazaar !) When the magistrate 
had succeeded in quieting the perturbation of the poor Jamadar, he 
was duly informed that " a gora log [a white soldier] had come out 
of the Fort into the Bazaar, armed with a stout stick, and that the 
first man he met he stretched him on the ground, and the rest, 
seeing what he had received, had retreated, jumping off their stalls 
and leaving money and goods behind them ; and," continued the 
distressed and terrified Jamadar, " Sahib, the gora is cutting capers 
there in the middle of the Bazaar, swinging his stick, and chal- 
lenging them to come on, and offering to fight them all ; but, of 
course, they wont go near him. They are all here in a heap at the 
end of the Bazaar, and. Sahib, what am I to do } " " What are 
you to do ! You gudha, (donkey,) why, go and arrest the man. 
What else would you do ? " The astonished police officer looked 
at his chief as if he could not believe his own ears, and asked, 
" What did you say. Sahib ? " " I said, go and arrest him." He 
looked at Mr. Wood, and in deep distress at the danger of his 
disobedience, exclaimed with emphasis, " Sahib, zi cannot be done. 
There is not a man in the '^2a2iZX would dare to look him in the 
face ! " Mr. W. insisted that he must " look him in the face," and 



454 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

bring him up before him, adding, " If you are afraid, then take your 
six men," (who all stood in a row behind their gallant leader, with 
about as much courage as Falstaff's squad, gazing right into the 
face of the magistrate ;) " surely seven of you, armed with tul - 
wars, are enough to arrest one English soldier with only a stick in 
his band." 

It was all of no use ; go they would not, and much as they loved 
livery, and power, and pay, they were, to a man, ready to resign 
the service sooner than execute the commission ; so that Mr. W. 
had no alternative but to write a line to the English sergeant of 
the guard at the Fort, directing him to send a couple of soldiers to 
arrest the man and bring him up. A swift messenger, by a back 
road, soon delivered the chittee, and we sat still to see the result. 
In a short time a military tread was heard, the road clearing as 
they came, and the disturber of the peace, with the stick in his 
hand, was walked in between two of his brethren right up to the 
magistrate's table. He looked around at the crowd, and at us, and 
at the magistrate, in astonishment, every glance seeming to say, 
" What in the world have I been brought here for "i " 

Mr. W. broke the silence with, " Well, sir, I am given to under- 
stand that you have been disturbing my people in the Bazaar.'' 
Steadying himself for a reply, (the first word he uttered showing 
that he was an Irishman, and half drunk at that,) he said, with a 
significant twirl of the stick, " Yis, yer Honor, I've been stirring 
them up a little ;" looking very merry over it, as if he had been 
" doing the State some service," which ought to be recognized. It 
rather sobered him down, however, to hear the magistrate's prompt 
and stern reply, " Then, sir, I wish you to understand that I don't 
want them * stirred up.' " The soldier was incredulous. He evi- 
dently thought the magistrate was only joking. " Ah now, yer 
Honor, you don't mean that at all, at all ! " His Honor said he did 
mean it, and, trying to look as severe as he could, he added, "And 
more than that, I want to know what brought you into my Bazaar 
at all .'' " This question, and its manner, roused the soldier, his rol- 
licking aspect became serious, as, bringing down the end of his 



THE IRISHMAN IN THE LUCKNOW COURT. 455 

stick with a sharp ring on the floor beside him, and the tears 
springing to his eyes, he stretched out his hand, and for a few 
moments he seemed to me the most eloquent speaker I had ever 
heard : "Ah, yer Honor, listen to me. If yer Honor only knew the 
races I have had after these rascally Pandies, in rain, and hunger, 
and mud, and how many noble comrades have fallen by this side," 
(striking his thigh,) " and on this ! " (repeating the action there.) 
Here his feelings seemed to overcome him. He paused, and then 
added, " Yer Honor, the spirit was up in me a little this mornin' 
and I thought I'd just come out and have a little bit of a fight on 
my own private account ; but, yer Honor, I could not get a sin 
gle one of the spalpeens to face me, and what was I to do, yer 
Honor } " His Honor's calm rejoinder was, " You were to let them 
alone." But the poor fellow could not see it. A happy thought 
seemed then to strike him, and the spirit of fun was once more in 
full possession of him. Stretching out his stick toward Mr. 
Wood, he exclaimed, " Now, yer Honor, what's the use of talkin' ; 
just do you say the word, and I'll lick out every mother sowl of 
them for you in five minutes ! " By this time he was in an attitude, 
and looked the fighting Irishman all over. 

Mr. Wood, I suppose, made about the best effort of his life to 
keep his countenance and seem serious ; he could not afford to 
give way before his Court. How he ever did it I cannot imagine. 
Being under no such restriction, I shook with laughing till I 
nearly fell off the chair, and all the more, when I saw the effect of 
the attitude and the stick on the great fat Nawab on the other side 
of the table. With his hands on his knees, and evidently alarmed, 
he watched ever}' movement of the soldier, and not knowing a 
word of English, he seemed to realize the fellow's antics boded no 
good to him personally, and looked as if he was ready to bolt. It was 
useless for Mr. Wood to rejoin, as he did, that he "did not want 
them licked out," for the Irishman proceeded, quite in a confiden- 
tial way, blandly to assure him, " Yer Honor, you wont have the 
least trouble ; you will only just have to say the word, and I'll dr^ 
the business foi you !" 



456 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Things were going from bad to worse, and the magistrate saw 
he must lose no time in getting rid of the fellow ; so, with a threat 
that, if ever he found him in his Bazaar again he would hand him 
up for court martial, he said to the guard, " Take him away ! " and 
off he was walked, to the great relief of the Nawab, and the Jama- 
dar, and all the natives present, and I suppose to Mr. Wood as 
well. And this was in LucknoWy and only ten months after its 
recapture ! 

Solomon says, " There is a time to laugh." I have found in my 
life few occasions more appropriate for that exercise than the one 
here given, which I have faithfully described as it occurred. It 
is allowable occasionally to pass 

" From grave to gay, 
From lively to severe." 

My book has more than enough of the grave and the sad ; let this, 
then, have a place here, for here it belongs, and has a lesson far 
beyond what appears on the surface of this ludicrous scene. I 
have introduced it, not for the sake of its levity, though it was rich 
and almost inimitable, but for the sake of its lesson. One can 
read that lesson, and even laugh over it, as I did, near the graves 
of Havelock and Henry Lawrence. Laughter may be religious. 
It was so here. To adequately appreciate the enlargement of 
heart, or even the hilarity of that occasion, one would need to have 
experimentally known our previous conditions there — to have rid- 
den on an elephant's back, with a Sepoy guard, through those very 
Bazaars of vice and danger — should have been, as we were, 
acquainted with those who endured there that long agony of the 
defense — must have stood with us for seven months on the summit 
of Nynee Tal, with the fear that you were the last of the Christian 
life left in India, and that our fate, at the hands of these bloody 
men, might be but a question of time, while our only hope, under 
God, were these very red-coated soldiers whom we feared might yet 
be ten thousand miles away from us. A "dying hope," no relief, and 
hardly expecting deliverance, and then to drop right out of those cir- 
cumstances into a scene like this ! The blessed God himself would 



ONE OF YOU SHALL CHASE A THOUSAND. 457 

sanction laughter here. For, when He " turned again the captivity 
of Zion, we were hke them that dream. Then was our mouth filled 
with laughter, and our tongue with singing." For. it was literally 
true in the Bazaars of Lucknow, that " They said among the 
heathen, God has done great things for them." He did — here was 
a striking evidence of it — and " we were glad ! " 

Even as I looked and laughed at this half-drunken creature, how 
vividly did God's holy Word come to my mind, as I saw him in 
his whimsical resolution and proposal, exulting in his ability, and 
so eager for its display, offering to fulfill, to the letter, those words 
of Holy Writ, so true then to the race whom he, even in his un- 
worthiness and unconsciousness, there represented, that " One 
should chase a thousand ; " nay, even more than that, for he alone 
offered to do the work of the " two " to whom a covenant God had 
engaged, that they should " put ten thousand to flight ! " And 
why .'' Because " their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut 
them up ; " while Christendom was, at that very time, mingling their 
congratulations with England for this wondrous divine deliverance, 
and obeying the command of the Lord Jehovah, " Rejoice, O ye 
nations, with his people ; for he will avenge the blood of his serv- 
ants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be mer- 
ciful unto his land, and to his people." Deut. xxxii, 43. 

Third. The results upon the Hindoo race are equally marked. 
They, too, have lost their Peishwa and their prestige ; they have 
become deeply convinced of the impotence of their idols to aid 
them in any great emergency ; they have learned an additional les- 
son of Mohammedan perfidy and bitterness, which can never be 
forgotten by them, and which forbids the possibility of any future 
combination with their cruel antagonists. Their most intelligent 
men are fully satisfied that, till the time comes when they shall be 
fit for self-government, their best interests are bound up with their 
allegiance to the English Government. Under the security and 
peace which it gives them they are now, as never before, devoting 
their energies to material and educational improvement. 

Fourth. The abolition of the East India Company is another of 



458 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

the merciful results of the Rebellion. This proud and powerful 
body of commercial men rose, in two hundred years, from the 
humble position of a mere trading company, through a series of 
events the most wonderful in modern history, till they came at last 
to sway their scepter over an empire six times more populous than 
that of their own Queen, and twice as populous as that of Augustan 
Rome, and separated, till recently, from them by a voyage of four 
or five months. But this vast opportunity, the greatest that Chris- 
tian rulers ever possessed, was not improved to the intellectual 
or moral good of the vast multitudes whom they governed. What 
they chiefly considered was large dividends, and every thing had to 
bow to that. As a corporation, they had no soul that would feel for 
the guilt and danger of perishing men, or make any effort to 
redeem them, but, on the contrary, they tried to discourage all such 
efforts. To this unworthy and unchristian policy they held on to 
the last, and would have held on probably for ages if God and the 
English public had not abolished their rule on the ist of Novem- 
ber, 1858. Even in the terrible lessons of the first outbreak, 
instead of relenting and turning from their course, they clung all 
the more tenaciously to it. In evidence of this, the fact can be 
referred to, that in the first panic caused by the news which reached 
England in July, 1857, informing all classes of the terrible events 
which had taken place on the 31st of May, and that British suprem- 
acy seemed to hang in the balance, one of their kind in London, 
well acquainted with the East, and from whose military character, 
if nothing more, utterances of another sort would have been con- 
sistent — this man, the editor of " The United Service Magazine" in 
his leading article for his August number, was so carried away by 
his fears and by false and godless theories, that he deliberately 
proposed to sacrifice the claims of his faith, and the moral hopes of 
India, and surrender all to heathenism at the first blow, and with- 
out a struggle, in language which his descendants can never peruse 
without a blush for the cowardly " Christian " who wrote it. Speak- 
ing of the measures to be henceforth employed in India for the 
pacification of the country, and the retention of British supremacy, 



ABOLITION OF TEE EAST INDIA COMPANY. 459 

he says : " Missiojtaries imcst be sent away about their business, a^td 
the practice of attempting conversions be put immediate stop to. If 
a black individual express a sincere desire to become a Christian, 
by all means let his wishes be instantly attended to by the minis- 
ters of the Gospel, [the" Episcopalian chaplains of the troops and 
civilians.] By the substitution of this arrangement we are certain 
that there would be no material diminution of the number of real 
converts per annum, for at present the interior of a Cremorne 
omnibus would afford them ample accommodation." — United Serv- 
ice MagazinCy 1857, p. 480. 

In that " omnibus " I would have claimed at least three seats — 
one each for Joel and Emma, and one for Peggy, Emma's mother, 
and would have felt satisfied, as I handed them in, that the young- 
est and weakest of their number had a courage and constancy for 
• Jesus and his cause which might well put to shame — as it will yet 
in the presence of " the worthy Judge eternal " — the cowardice and 
sarcasm of this unworthy Briton, who thus dared to offset the pol- 
icy and claims of the East India Company against the present and 
final salvation of two hundred millions of benighted men. 

I am thankful that this despicable and wicked utterance expressed 
the feelings of a very small fraction of English society — smaller 
to-day than ever, and growing " beautifully less " — while the " Com- 
pany" whose policy and practices it pronounced, within twelve 
months of the day when these words were printed, was forever extin- 
guished, as a governing body, by the Parliament of England, which 
resolved to sustain British Christianity, while they vindicated Brit- 
ish supremacy, in India. The clique who could thus insult God 
and his ministers, and wish to hinder the conversion of India's 
millions, were regarded as henceforth unworthy to administer the 
political affairs of that great empire ; and this very utterance was 
the knell of their doom, as it was also of the Sepoy power on which 
they so vainly and madly leaned for support. Natives and Chris- 
tians alike celebrated with gladness the day that saw the country 
pass under the control of the Queen of England, to be henceforth 
ruled by the Parliamentary Government of Great Britain. 



460 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Fifth. The Government of India to-day, in its freedom from the 
policy and traditions of the Company, its separation from idol- 
atrous administrations, its strength and justice, its outspoken inter- 
est in the intellectual and moral well-being of the people, its 
humane and impartial administration, is a wonderful improvement 
upon the former things that have passed away. At length the oft- 
repeated assertion, that " India is the noblest trust ever committed 
to a Christian nation," seems to have taken possession of the minds 
who guide her destiny. 

The moral impression made by English prowess over Asiatic 
combination and purpose has been immense, and has affected 
other lands far beyond the bounds of India. It has convinced the 
Asiatic nations of the superiority of Christian civilization beyond any 
other event that has transpired on that hemisphere. The result in 
India itself is, that England is considered to hold the land by a 
stronger right than ever ; her laws are more respected, her magis- 
trates more implicitly obeyed, her roads are safer, her peace is 
more profound. What her Government know to be right can now 
be attempted and carried out free from the temporizing of the past, 
so that legislation is more decided, and radical, and beneficent. A 
magnanimity that before was not dreamed of guides British policy. 
Native gentlemen of education are now invested with Commissions 
of the Peace. The native element is introduced into legislative 
halls, and connected with the government of their country. Al- 
ready they sit on the bench of the High Court, and hold honorary 
positions in Council, as the colleagues of the Governor General. 
Public education is encouraged and pushed forward, the admission 
of ladies into general society commended, female education among 
all classes encouraged to the utmost, and extravagant costs of wed- 
dings and funerals discountenanced. The legislation, the princi- 
ples, and the personal influence of the Government, are all thus 
bearing upon the repression of what is wrong in Hindoo society, 
and the encouragement of all that is right and good. 

None but those who have lived in India can adequately appre- 
ciate the difficulty or the delicacy of the great task which England 



INDIA'S FUTURE FULL OF HOPE. 46 1 

is trying to fulfill there to-day. One feature of the structure of 
society there will sufficiently intimate this fact. There are in all 
one hundred and fifty -three Hindoo and Mussulman Princes, gov- 
erning semi-independent States, under the protection of the para- 
mount power. These communities are less affected by intelligence, 
and more liable to caste notions and time-honored observances, 
than the territories directly governed by the British, and their 
influence has to be considered ; then there are as many more 
Princes, (retired from business,) some of them still bearing royal 
titles, and drawing royal revenues from the treasury — any number 
of Maharajahs, Nawabs, and Kings — within the British territories. 
These have courts, ceremonials, and claims, which are all main- 
tained with a tenacity that, to us of the West, seems simply ridicu- 
lous, and which are, and must be, to India's rulers, matters of worry 
and difficulty ; but they have to deal gently with them, and work 
on in hope that, in the progress of the country toward popular gov- 
ernment, these " royal " folk (including the Nawab Nazim of Ben- 
gal, the King of Oude, and others) or their descendants will become 
content, in the interest of the unity of their magnificent land, and 
its preparation for the popular native government which will one 
day direct its destinies, to sink title and claim, and accept a posi- 
tion in native society analogous to that of the Peerage of England. 
The day is past for the continued existence of " three hundred and 
seventy-four States" in a country that can be but one nation. As 
Noblemen around their strong Government, these representatives 
of dead or dying dynasties might do much for their country, as well 
as opening a way for their own children to be trained and educated 
for employment in positions of trust and usefulness. 

These are but a mere intimation of the peculiar circumstances 
which English administrators in India have to deal with as they 
try to guide the interests of that country. The rebellion broke 
down many of these difficulties, and simplified their task to a great 
extent, making them more fully the masters of the situation ; time, 
education, and Christianity will do the rest. 

Meanwhile the country is progressing rapidly in the right 
30 



462 • TEE LAND OF THE VEDA 

direction, its own people testify to their contentment and hopes 
of its bright future, while travelers from other lands add their evi- 
dence to the peace and prosperity which have followed the sorrowful 
chapters which we have traced. The appreciatory words lately 
uttered by the Hon. W. H. Seward, after having traveled through 
India, will be in the remembrance of the reader. Mr. Seward's 
opinion is well sustained by another American gentleman, Dr. 
Prime, of the Observer, just returned from a visit to India. With 
a candid appreciation of the present, as compared with the past, he 
uses the following language : 

" I have spoken of the complete change which has come over 
the government of India in its being made directly responsible to, 
and dependent on, the British Crown. A still greater change has 
taken place in the objects for which the government is adminis- 
tered. For two centuries and a half India was ruled for the bene- 
fit of the East India Company. ... 

" But that is all changed, or, if not all, the purpose of the Gov- 
ernment is changed. It is ruled now for the good of India, for the 
sake of the people of India. I take the greatest pleasure in bear- 
ing testimony to the high character of those who have the admin- 
istration of affairs in that empire, and to the aspect of the country 
in its material, educational, social, and religious interests, as being 
full of promise. I doubt if any country has more conscientious 
and intelligent public officers controlling its destinies than has 
India. There are reforms yet to be consummated. The extreme 
caution of rulers prevents them from entirely giving up a sort of 
complicity with idolatry ; the great work of education which the 
Government is carrying on, to which I shall again allude, is con- 
fined too much to a privileged class ; but it has been a great pleas- 
ure to me to find this land making such rapid progress in all that 
is calculated to promote the highest good of the people who dwell 
in it, to whatever race they belong. Overlooking all the past, I 
heartily rejoice that India is to-day under British rule. Long may 
that rule be undisturbed ! May it not be broken until the tribes 
of the land shall be able, intelligently and wisely, to govern them- 



CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF CHBI8TIANITT. 463 

selves. The effect of the present system will be to develop their 
powers of self-government. In addition to the native princes, who 
are still recognized as the heads of their limited territories, natives 
are admitted as members to the Supreme and Provincial Councils. 
The Government is doing nothing directly to advance the Chris- 
tian religion, (though as much as our own Government is doing,) 
and many evils growing out of the peculiarities of the people, the 
varieties of races, the inveterate nature of hoary prejudices, yet re- 
main to be removed or remedied ; but, judging from the promise of 
the present, India bids fair to become again a mighty empire in the 
East, and to outshine in its glory the splendor of the old Moguls." 

Sixth. The improved condition and prospects of Christianity and 
of native Christians, as the result of the rebellion, is most marked 
and important. 

The position of Christianity in India, and its disabilities, will be 
well understood from what has been already advanced. The condi- 
tion of the native Christian before the Rebellion was a most trying 
one. He was cut off and proscribed by his heathen friends, looked 
down upon too often by European officials, refused all employment 
under Government, with no one to sympathize with him except a 
few pious persons and the missionary, the latter very often unable 
to help him, though his heart was distressed for him. Short as 
the time was that I had then been in India, I learned some most 
distressing cases of this kind. 

The very last letter that I had from the martyred Missionary, 
Brother Campbell, of Futtyghur, was on this subject. He writes, 
" Poor Saul, whom you saw when at my house, is still without 
employment. I sent him to Cawnpore and Futtypore, but those 
places were full ; had more help and native Christians than could 
be well provided for. He is now at home near Agra, and writes 
to me that he is in a sad condition. Christians will not receive 
him, though he is willing to do any kind of work ; and his relations 
say, that if he remains with them in his native village he must 
become one of them, that is, a heathen. Poor fellow, I pity him, 
for I think him a good man ; weak, perhaps, but still, I trust, a 



464 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA, 

• chosen vessel.' O that God in his good providence would open 
up some way for these poor fettered souls (not a few) who wish to 
renounce heathenism and cast in their lot with the people of God, 
and cannot ! For want of employment, we are obliged to turn off 
numbers who would gladly come, bringing their families with them, 
even very hopeful cases. O that the day may soon come when 
caste will be broken up ! Then our converts will stand some 
chance." 

That letter was written on the 15 th of April. Eight weeks 
after the writer was " before the throne," and God in his mysterious 
ways was beginning to answer the martyr's prayer for the native 
Christians. Little did he imagine, when writing that letter, how 
soon and how fully Providence would " open up a way for those 
fettered souls ! " The Christian public and the Government, imme- 
diately after the Rebellion, wanted them for situations of trust in 
far greater numbers than could be supplied. The Rebellion had 
tested and brought out the value of native Christians in a manner 
that admitted of no cavil or mistake. 

Not one native Christian in India joined the mutineers, though 
their education would have made them valuable to them. It was 
also known that some conspiracies had been discovered and pre- 
vented by timely information furnished by native Christians. Not- 
withstanding the sufferings to which they were reduced during the 
Rebellion, as a body they stood nobly for Christianity and the 
British Government, though that Government had neglected and 
despised them. Many of them laid down their lives for their 
religion. Even under that fiery trial, it is asserted (see " Liverpool 
Missionary Conference," page 249) that only two of their number 
are known to have apostatized. At length the Government itself 
began to appreciate them, so that the Rebellion had hardly closed 
ere Sir John Lawrence, as Governor of the Punjab, and who soon 
after became Viceroy of all India, used the following language in 
one of his government orders : " The sufferings and trials which 
the Almighty has permitted to come upon his people in this land 
during the past few months, though dark and mysterious to us. 



MARTYR CAMPBELL'S PRATER ANSWERED. 465 

will assuredly end in his glory. The followers of Christ will now, 
I believe, be induced to come forward and advance the interests of 
his kingdom. The system of caste can no longer be permitted to 
rule in our service. Soldiers, and government servants of every 
class, must be entertained for their merits, irrespective of creeds, 
class, or caste. 

"The native Christians, as a body, have, with rare exceptions, 
been set aside. I know not one in the Punjab, to our disgrace be 
it said, in any employment under Government. A proposition to 
employ them in the public service six months ago assuredly would 
not have been complied with ; but a change has come, and I be- 
lieve there are few who will not eagerly employ those native Chris- 
tians competent to fill appointments. 

" I consider I should be wanting in my duty, in this crisis, if I 
did not endeavor to secure a portion of the numerous appointments 
m the judicial departments for native Christians ; and I shall be 
happy, as far as I can, to advance their interests equally with those 
of the Mohammedan and Hindoo candidates. Their future promo- 
tion must depend upon their own merits." 

His Excellency then added suggestions to guide the Missionaries 
in selecting suitable persons to be presented for the purpose. 
Shortly after this Sir Robert Montgomery, the ruler of Oude, 
issued a similar paper. Other officials did the same. Merchants 
and traders also sought them, for they saw they could be trusted. 
Their value rose at once. Employment was thrown open to them, 
giving them a fair chance with other men, which was all we desired 
for them. The native Christian, who before the Rebellion could 
not obtain five dollars per month for his services, though an edu- 
cated man and a faithful member of Christ's Church, within little 
more than a year from the date of martyr Campbell's letter, could 
command five or ten times that amount of salary. Missionary 
societies had, consequently, twice within five years, to raise the 
wages of their teachers and helpers in order to retain them, so 
great was the competition by other parties to engage them. The 
effect of this change upon their standing in society, the comfort of 



466 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

their families, and their own self-respect, as well as Christian use- 
fulness, will be apparent. It was for them a great salvation, and 
most wonderfully wrought out. 

The rapid growth of the Christian Church in India since that 
time, and especially of the native ministry, will be fully exhibited in 
the Statistical Tables which will follow the next chapter. To them 
the reader's attention is earnestly requested, that he may gratefully 
contemplate 

"The silver lining to this cloud of grief" 

with which a merciful God compensated the sufferings of his serv- 
ants. What a change for the better, in the very respect which they 
so much desired, would Brothers Freeman and Campbell witness, 
could they rise from the dead and revisit the scenes where they suf- 
fered and died to bring about this result ! What a justification, too, 
of dear Mrs. Freeman's words, in her last letter to her sister, when 
she said : " I sometimes think our deaths would do more good than 
we would do in all our lives ; if so. His will be done ! " 

How intense the interest which that Rebellion awoke all through 
Christendom ! how earnest the prayers which then went up to God 
for India ! and how liberal the efforts since made to claim the land 
for Christ ! All has been overruled for good. The vastness of 
India, the value of her evangelization as the heart of Asia, and the 
influence of her position, as the key to the salvation of the nations 
with which she has commercial relations — Afifghanistan, Beloochis- 
tan. Eastern Persia, Bokhara, Herat, Thibet, Ladak, Nepaul, West- 
ern China, and others — all these must feel the effects of the mighty 
change which India is yet to undergo, and for which this Rebellion 
did so much to prepare her. 

The hour had come when the inevitable conflict between human 
barbarism and divine civilization was to take place, and the words of 
Christ were to be realized in India — " I am not come to send peace, 
but a sword." Ere that sword could conquer the peace of right- 
eous law and order, and place that great land in subjection to the 
influences which are all the more certainly and speedily to work out 
her redemption — as they are doing at this hour — the words of Sim- 



CHRISTIANITY INVINCIBLE AND INEVITABLE. 467 

eon to the Virgin Mother of the great Peace-maker might have 
been addressed to the Futtyghur martyrs, and the victims of Cawn- 
pore and Bareilly, as well as to those who lived to see the great 
victory of deliverance, " Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy 
own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." 
They did not suffer nor die in vain. Their endurance unto blood, 
and the valor of those who, against such odds, fought their way to 
their rescue, have taught the jnen of Hindustan a lesson that can 
never be forgotten. They have been whipped into the alarming 
consciousness that their colossal and venerable systems of religion, 
in which they trusted, are utterly powerless ; that with civilization 
is strength ; and that Christianity is both invincible and inevitable. 
They have lost confidence and hope in their own systems, and the 
" thoughts of their hearts " are " revealed " in the candid and singu- 
lar remark made to us one day by an aged native, when we pressed 
him upon this subject, as with a sigh he exclaimed, " It is so. Sahib ; 
for some reason that we don't understand God has left us and gone 
over to the Christian side ! I suppose what you say is true. My 
children, or grandchildren, will probably be of your way of think- 
ing. But I'm too old to change ; I want to die in the faith of my 
fathers!" The tears flowed as he closed his remarks. They were 
shed because he felt that Hindooism is dying ! And so it is ; for 
already, thank God ! the blood even of the Sepoy race flows in the 
veins of the Methodist ministry in Oude and Rohilcund, while 
their children are singing in our Christian schools and churches, 
" Hosannah to the Son of David ! " 



468 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE CONDITION OF WOMAN UNDER HINDOO LAW. 

AMONG the mercies resultant from recent events in India 
may be reckoned " the door of hope " which God has thus 
opened for the women of that land ; but to appreciate the hopeful 
possibilities of the present it is needful that we consider the past, 
and what, up to this hour, has been the condition of women there, 
under the law of her religion and the customs of her country. If 
she is rising at last in any respect, it is in decided defiance of the 
system that has so long repressed and wronged her, and her 
elevation therefore involves its overthrow. 

On page forty-two we have presented a picture of the class 
whose legal relations we now more fully represent. 

What is this woman, thus " gorgeously appareled," in her condi- 
tion, character, and prospects .'' Even the Zenana has had to give 
up its secrets, and the rest of the world may now know how the 
women of India live and die. 

Of course every lady of intelligence has heard more or less of 
the condition of her sex in India, and has had her sympathy called 
forth by the wrongs which they have so long suffered ; yet few 
understand why these things are so, much less, what is the full 
measure of the disabilities to which this lady, or any of her sisters 
in India, is always exposed, without that appeal which other women 
possess to the divine rule of their religion, which forbids such 
treatment. 

In other lands, and under the teachings and forms of a different 
civilization, the wrongs which women suffer at the hands of lordly 
and vicious men are the result of the current wickedness of those 
who oppress them ; but in India the abject humility, subordination, 



WOMAN'S LEGAL WRONGS IN INDIA. 469 

and implicit obedience of woman to every whim and wish which 
her husband exacts from her, is extorted under the express teach- 
ings of her cruel faith, and she is well aware that he can quote the 
only "scriptures" she 'knows to justify every demand and wrong to 
which she tamely submits. Her poor judgment and conscience 
are held fast in the terrors of a system that contains not one ray 
of hope of any change for the better for her ; while this has been 
the condition of the hundreds of millions of women in India since 
long before the incarnation of Christ. All that period of time she 
has been sunk and suffering in this manner. 

If ever woman had an opportunity of showing what she might 
become under the teaching and influence of a civilization where 
Christianity or the Bible did not interfere with her state, the 
women of India have had that opportunity ; and now, after forty 
centuries of such experiment, what is woman there to-day .'' These 
pages shall faithfully declare it to the women whom Christianity 
has redeemed, and then let them judge for themselves the differ- 
ence and its cause. 

In rendering this service to the truth I shall be under no liabil- 
ity to exaggerate, nor shall I make a single unsupported statement 
as to her condition. The evidence shall be all her own, and chap- 
ter and verse — Code, Purana, and Shaster — shall give their testi- 
mony to the exact truthfulness of my descriptions. I feel assured 
that those who read these pages will lay them down with the 
conviction that a more atrocious system for the extinction of the 
happiness and hopes of woman than that which is contained in the 
legislation of the Hindoos never was devised by priest or lawgiver 
since the hour when guilty man first began to throw the blame, 
the burden, and the wrongs of life, upon the weaker sex. 

The most ancient body of human law now extant is the Insti- 
tutes of Menu. This unique and whimsical system of legislation 
— the offspring of despotism and priestcraft — fixed the social and 
religious position of woman in India nearly a thousand years before 
Christ. The full title of the Code — which has been translated from 
the ancient Sanscrit by Sir W. Jones — is, " Institutes of Hindoo 



470 TEE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

Law, or the Ordinances of Menu — Comprising the Indian System 
of Duties, Rehgious and Civil." 

This is the fountain-head of those rules which constitute the 
laws of life for the women of India, and, terrible as many of them 
are in their undisguised deformity here, they have been made ever 
more hideous and horrible by the added ingredients of bitterness 
which they received as they flowed down through the ages, and 
were expressed in Puranas and Shasters, in traditional teachings, 
popular dialogues, in the Hindoo drama, and in their literature 
generally. We shall quote from these to illustrate and justify the 
representations given of woman's lot in that land 

" Where the skies forever smile, 
And the oppressed forever weep." 

In drawing a picture of woman in India, we first speak of her 
birth ; and here we are met with the terrible fact of female infanti- 
cide, so common in that land. This is an ancient, systematic, and 
prevalent crime among the Hindoos. Not especially among the 
poor or the debased, but prevailing chiefly among the Rajpoot 
families, some of the proudest and wealthiest of the tribes of India. 
The doctrine and practice, and the unblushing avowal of this un- 
natural crime, on the part of its perpetrators, are such as cannot be 
found anywhere else on earth. And the infernal custom has so 
drugged their consciences, that even the mothers themselves of 
these destroyed little ones have declared their insensibility of any 
feeling of guilt, even where the deed has been done by their own 
hands. 

Girls are not desired, not welcome ; and when they come, and 
must live — as British law now demands, where its power can reach 
them, that life must be held sacred — still they can be at least 
ignored, if not despised. Why, if my native friend had six chil- 
dren, three boys and as many girls, and I 'happened to inquire, 
" Lalla, how many children have you } " the probability is he 
would reply, " Sir, I have three children ;" for he would not think 
it worth while to count in the daughters. 

They cannot understand our Christian feelings in rejoicing over 



FEMALE INFANTICIDE. 47 1 

the birth of a girl with as sincere happiness as we would lavish 
upon our male children ; and a case is actually on record, which 
shows how generally accepted is this idea in the native mind, 
where an English gentleman at Bombay actually received a visit 
of condolence from an intelligent native friend. A little girl had 
been born to him ; and the polite Hindoo, having heard of it, had 
called to express his sympathy with the unfortunate parent ! 

The prevalence and extent of the horrid crime of female infanti- 
cide attracted, many years ago, the attention of the humane men 
whom England sent to rule her India possessions, and from the 
official statistics collected, which are now before us, we are able to 
give some accurate idea of the fatal devastation which, for ages 
past, this hellish cruelty has wrought upon the female life of India. 

Mr. Wilkinson's reports were based upon a census taken in one 
locality where this custom was known to exist. By the simple, 
spontaneous admission of the guilty parties themselves, it turned 
out that in one tribe the portion of sons to daughters was one hun- 
dred and eighteen to sixteen ; in a second, two hundred and forty 
to ninety-eight ; in a third, one hundred and thirty-one to sixty- 
one ; in a fourth, fourteen to four ; and in a fifth, thirty-nine to 
seven. Now, as statistics in Europe and America have all shown 
but one result, namely, that the births of males and females are of 
nearly equal amount, the only inference to be drawn from this dis- 
parity is, that females equal, or nearly equal, in number to the dif- 
ference here exhibited had been destroyed. 

The murders, therefore, perpetrated in the first of the above 
tribes were seventy-seven per cent, of the females born. The 
aggregate result given by the census taken in this locality was six 
hundred and thirty-two sons to two hundred and twenty-five 
daughters. This is an average of thirty-six daughters to one hun- 
dred boys ; or, in other words, of every one hundred females born 
sixty-four must have been cruelly immolated by their parents ; or, 
in round numbers, about two thirds were destroyed, and but one 
third saved alive. 

Some of the villages examined presented a more terrible exhibit 



472 THE LAND OF THE VEDA, 

than even this — as where he found only three per cent, of girls, 
and in one no girls at all, the inhabitants freely " confessing that 
they had destroyed every girl born in their village." 

The guilty agents were generally the parents themselves, ofttirnes 
the mothers, with their own hands. Sir John Malcolm positively 
states, in his Report on Central India, that " the mother is com- 
monly the executioner of her own offspring." Professing to open 
the fount of life to her babe, she coolly and deliberately impreg 
nates it with the elements of death, by putting opium on the nip- 
ple of her breast, which the child inhaling with its milk, dies. But 
the juice of the poppy is not the only ingredient by whose " mortal 
taste" so many unoffending victims fill the unmarked graves of 
India. The madar, or the dutterrea plant, the tobacco leaf, starva- 
tion, drowning, exposure in the jungle, and even strangulation, are 
the modes employed by these wretches for their fell purposes. 
" Without natural affection," truly ! 

Human language, with all its resources, furnishes a feeble and 
inadequate medium of expression for the horror which such deeds 
of hell awaken in the heart. Probably the celebrated Encyclope- 
dist has as nearly expressed it as is possible when he says, " In- 
fanticide, or child murder, is an enormity that our reason and feel- 
ings would lead us to reckon a crime of very rare occurrence. 
That it should exist at all is, at first view, surprising ; that it 
should prevail to any extent is difficult of belief; that parents 
shouM be its perpetrators is in a high degree painful to imagine ; 
but that mothers should be the executioners of their own offspring — 
nay, their habitual and systematic executioners — is such an agoniz- 
ing contemplation, such an outrage on humanity, as every amiable 
feeling of our nature sickens and revolts at." 

The most awful feature of the matchless enormity is found in the 
fact that Hindooism has dared to cover the deed with a professed 
divine sanction. On page 399 we have described the bloody deity, 
herself a female, under whose sanction these deeds, so inhuman, 
have been consummated. A fitting locality, as a general center 
for the hellish enormity, was long since found in that dreary island 



DAME SAUGOB'S IMPIOUS STAIN. 473 

of Saugor, lying below Calcutta, and which few Christians have 
ever passed without feeling inclined to invoke upon the island and 
its shrine of blood the unmitigated curse of God and man. The 
sight of it fired the indignation of that great linguist, Dr. John 
Leyden, and led to the composition of those rugged, but honest 
lines of his, which describe the place and those deeds for which it 
was regularly visited, and which' made it so infamous throughout 
the civilized world : 

" On sea-girt Saugor's desert isle, 

Mantled with thickets dark and dun, 
May never moon or starlight smile, 

Nor ever beam the summer sun ! 
Strange deeds of blood have there been done, 

In mercy ne'er to be forgiven ; 

Deeds the far-seeing eye of Heaven 
Vailed its radiant orb to shun. 

"To glut the shark and crocodile 

A mother brought her infant here ; 
She saw its tender, playful smile. 

She shed not one maternal tear; 
She threw it on a watery bier : 

With grinding teeth sea-monsters tore 

The smiling infant that she bore — 
She shrunk not once its cries to hear!" 

He then turns and addresses Kalee, and in the second verse 
following literally quotes the Shaster describing her : 

"Dark goddess of the iron mace, 

Flesh-tearer, quaffing life-blood warm. 
The terrors of thine awful face 

The pulse of mortal hearts alarm — 
Grim power! If human woes can charm, 

Look to the horrors of this flood. 

Where crimsoned Gunga shines in blood, 
And man-devouring monsters swarm. 

" Skull-chaplet wearer! whom the blood 

Of man delights a thousand years, 
Than whom no face, by land or flood. 

More stern and pitiless appears; 
Thine is the cup of human tears, 

The pomp of human sacrifice : 

Cannot the cruel blood suffice 
Of tigers, which thine island bears 



474 



THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



" Not all blue Guiiga's mountain flood, 
That rolls so proudly round thy fane, 

Can cleanse the tinge of human blood, 
Nor wash dark Saugor's impious stain ; 

The sailor, journeying on the main, 
Shall view from far thy dreary isle, 
And curse the ruins of the pile 

Where mercy ever sued in vain!" 



This iniquity was openly and fearlessly practiced in India up to 
the time when the Marquis Wellesley, brother of the Duke of 
Wellington, was appointed Governor-General, and India's daugh- 
ters will yet learn to revere and love the memory of that humane 
and intrepid man, who, in the face of the obstacles that arose 
around him on every side, when he attempted to deal with this 
" custom," never faltered till he had put the protection of Christian 
law over the life of every child in India. His Excellency honestly 

and bravely placed in the 
hands of the magistracy 
of India " A Regulation 
for Preventing the Sacri- 
fice of Children at Saugoi 



and other places, passed 
by the Governor-General 
in Council, on the 20th 
of August, 1802," "declar- 
ing the practice to be mur- 
der, punishable by death." 
In British India, so far as 
law could reach the case, 
he made infanticide to be 
regarded and punished as 
The Marquis Wellesley. i^ Rutland. 

We present here an outline of the countenance of this true friend 
of woman, as that of one whose deeds of mercy will be held in ever- 
lasting remembrance. 

It is no doubt true that children have been secretly offered to 




CAUSES OF FEMALE INFANTICIDE. . 475 

sanguinary demons in India, and many of the infants thrown to the 
crocodiles or sharks at Saugor by their mothers were immolated in 
fulfillment of religious vows. Even the desire for children has led 
to their destruction, the mother promising her deity, in advance, 
that if blessed with offspring, the first-born should be returned 
in sacrifice. In this case "the child of the vow" is carefully cher- 
ished for three or four years, and then the mother, tempting it a 
step beyond its depth, resigns it to the Ganges, or deliberately 
casts it toward the pampered alligator, and stands to see it bleed- 
ing within the monster's jaws ! Again, it is not uncommon for a 
poor, sickly babe (under the blind infatuation of its parents, that its 
illness is caused by some malignant demon who has taken posses- 
sion of it) to be placed in a basket and carried into the forest, and 
there suspended from a tree, and abandoned for three or four days 
and nights ; and if, at the end of that time, the vultures, or ants, or 
beasts of prey, have not made away with it, and its sickness has 
departed, it is restored to its home. 

But none of these abominable cruelties adequately account for 
the prevalence of female infanticide. We have to seek its causes 
in more unworthy motives than even these. In fact, the daughters 
of India have been sacrificed one generation after another, not to 
the superstition of their parents, but to their Satanic pride. 

It is very difficult to convey to American readers, or to the 
common sense of a Christian lady, any adequate idea of the soaring 
and extravagant pride of family descent of such a race as the 
Rajpoots. 

Multitudes of these Rajpoots are as poor as they are proud, and 
as immemorial custom requires, in the event of a daughter's mar- 
riage, not only her own "gift and dowry" to be provided, but the 
festivities of the occasion, lasting six days, to be furnished for all 
relatives and friends, priests, bards, and various functionaries, who 
must be " bidden " and provided for munificently, it is simply ruin- 
ous for all but the wealthy to dare the experiment, certainly more 
than once : hence the female children are still secretly murdered. 
To this is added, what is equally difficult for Europeans and 



476 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Americans to understand or sympathize with, the general horror 
which parents in India feel in view of the supposed disgrace which 
would rest upon them and theirs in the event of their daughters 
remaining unmarried. 

An additional explanation is found in the relation which a son 
bears to the Shraad of his father — those funeral rites at which ho 
is to officiate, and which are considered essential to the happy 
transmigration and future welfare of the departed parent ; so that 
the birth of a boy, and of each in succession, is an assurance of 
salvation to the father, while, as sacrifice and religious rites are all 
denied to women, a girl is regarded as of no moral moment what- 
ever. She is a mere secular creature, whose life is considered as 
forfeited if the father concludes that there is no reasonable pros- 
pect of a suitable marriage for her, or that his means wont allow 
him to contemplate the customary nuptial expenses of his tribe. 
What girls are saved from death are usually those first born ; the 
later ones have not a chance of life, those spared requiring their 
death as a necessity of their position and dignity. 

This wholesale destruction of human life in the homes of India 
is a parental responsibility ; but at whose hands have these inno- 
cents perished } By the midnight assassin, or the Indian toma- 
hawk or scalping knife 1 No, no ; let humanity shudder. They 
are the mothers — the unhappy mothers — who, in the name of false 
honor, demon pride, and hereditary fictions of rank or purity of 
lineage, have no compassion on the fruit of their own womb, who 
imbrue their hands in the blood of their new-born babes. 

Say, ye happy American mothers, who have fondled your smil- 
ing babes, and clasped them to your bosoms as the most precious 
gifts of Heaven, if ever such a tale of woe as this has sounded in 
your ears } It will be a satisfaction to you to reflect that the lady 
missionaries whom your societies are now sending to that land, 
and who carry right into the center of these homes your Christian 
sentiments and feelings upon this subject, may be designed by 
God to work out a remedy for an evil which has hitherto defied 
human law and all that man alone could do for its extirpation. 



THE BETROTHAL OF THE 0IEL8. 477 

May Heaven help them, until the day shall dawn when the moth- 
ers of India, exulting over their daughters — over each and all of 
them — as joyously as they have ever done over their sons, shall 
delight to direct their husband's loving attention to their female 
children, as the Christian poet has expressed it for them : 

•' O look on her, see how full of life, 
Of strength, of bloom, of beauty, and of joy ! 
How like to me, how like to thee, when gentle, 
For then we are all alike : is it not so ? 
Mother, and sire, and babe, our features are 
Reflected in each other. 

Look ! how she laughs and stretches out her arms, 
And opens wide her bright eyes upon thine. 
To hail her father, while her little form 
Flutters as winged with joy. Talk not of pain ! 
The childless seraphs well might envy thee 
The pleasures of a parent ! Bless her ! 
As yet she has no words to thank thee, but 
Her heart will, and mine own too." 

It seems a rapid transition, from describing the early childhood 
of the female sex in India, to speak of betrothal, 3/et the inter- 
vening space is not very extensive. The Hindoo Shasters say 
that a girl is marriageable when she is seven years of age, but that 
she may wait till she is ten years old. The term "marriage" is 
used in their writings to include betrothal as well as what we mean 
by the term. Reserved for a husband is, in their view, almost as 
sacred as being resigned to his care. 

As soon as a little girl has reached her fifth birthday her parents 
begin anxiously to seek a marriage settlement for her. Their great 
concern henceforth relates to her nuptials. They would consider 
it a decided reproach if she saw her twelfth natal day without 
being at least betrothed. The whole matter is held in their own 
hands The poor girl has no choice or voice in her own destiny^ 
all is arranged without consulting her views or affections in any 
way whatever. 

The lawgiver Menu has laid the obligations heavily upon the 

father, so that he cannot escape the public sentiment. Menu 

ordains as follows : " Reprehensible is the father who gives not his 
31 



478 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

daughter in marriage at the proper time ;" and again, " To an 
excehent and handsome youth of the same class let every man 
give his daughter in marriage, according to law, even though she 
have not attained her age of eight years." 

He carries up the responsibility to an awful height by declaring 
the neglectful father, whose daughter has not been wed at twelv^e 
years old, as incurring a guilt equal to that of the murder of a 
Brahmin for every additional month she continues single. He 
reduces, according to her age, the amount of the nuptial present 
which the father receives, and even deprives herself of the right to 
carry her ornaments from her home in the same proportion, and 
thus appeals to the mean motive of personal interest to hurry on 
her settlement. 

The accountability is also pressed to avoid the condemnation of 
leaving his daughter asancrita, that is, destitute of the marriage 
sacrament. If he fails in this the law releases his children from all 
obligation of respect or obedience to him. 

In the same chapter he also claims that " the wife of an elder 
brother is considered as mother-in-law to the younger, and the 
wife of the younger as daughter-in-law to the elder." This implies, 
what is generally a fact, that it is seldom that a young couple in 
India have the luxury of a separate home. The bride is generally 
taken to her father-in-law's residence, and receives her apartment 
within the inclosure surrounding the general home. The outer 
rooms are occupied by the males of the family, the innei or 
secluded ones by the women — hence called the Zenana. These 
inner apartments are never entered by one of the opposite sex, 
save by the father, her husband's brothers, or by children. 

Harem — or as Mr. Lane spells it, Hhareein — signifies sacred, 
prohibited. The temple at Mecca is called Al-haram, that is, the 
sacred inviolable temple. The Seraglio of the Turks is a com- 
pound word, formed from stira, " house, apartment," and ahul, 
" family, domestic ;" hence Surahulio, or Seraglio, the " family or 
female apartment." Haram sera, and muhal sera, are nearly 
synonymous words, and are often used to express the inner 



C0UBT8HIP UNKNOWN IN INDIA. 479 

apartments in India. The common term is Zenana — from Zun, 
" a woman," Zunun, " women," an instance of the prevalence of the 
Persian language over the vernacular. (The Calcutta Review, 
No. IV.) 

" Courtship," in our Christian sense, the maiden in India can 
never know. She is not allowed to see or converse with him to 
whose control she will erelong be handed over. She cannot write 
to him, for she can neither read nor write ; all she is able to 
do is to follow the instructions, to " worship the gods for a 
good husband." She is taught to commence as soon as she is four 
years old. Her prayers are addressed chiefly to Kama-dera, the 
Hindoo Cupid. The books represent him as having for a steed an 
elephant composed of entwined female forms, and that elephant is 
darkness ; his car is the south wind ; his bow the sweet sugar-cane, 
with a row of green honey bees for its string, and charmed flowers 
for its fine arrows ; his minister is spring ; the ocean is his drum ; 
his trumpeters are birds, and his conquering troops are women. 
He is especially worshiped where he celebrates his triumphs in 
connection with marriage festivals. 

The maiden prays, and father and mother manage the business 
of selection. Each caste has its professional match-makers, whose 
aid is indispensable. When the negotiations have reached a cer- 
tain definiteness, the Pundits are consulted to avoid mistakes of 
consanguinity, and then the astrologers, who pronounce upon the 
carefully preserved horoscopes of the boy and girl, whether they 
can be united with safety. These preliminaries all found satisfac- 
tory, the aid of the Brahmin is sought to ascertain if the family 
god favors the union. The stars, the gods, and men being a unit, 
negotiations are opened between the parents and relations as to 
the amount of gift and dowry, and when conclusions are reached 
here to their mutual satisfaction, the astrologer is again called in 
to ascertain and name a lucky day when the agreement may be 
registered and a bond for the dowry executed. This is done with 
due solemnity, and then the astrologer has again to ascertain and 
name a lucky day for the ceremony, which is accepted by the 



480 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

parents under their bond to see to the consummation of the engage- 
ment. This is the usual method, sHghtly varied in different locah- 
ties. It is easily expressed in these few words, but what anxiety, 
what care and inquiry before these determinations can be reached ! 

No part of the Institutes of Menu is more definite and circum- 
stantial than that which gives the law of selection in marriage, 
With the eye and taste of a whimsical connoisseur in female 
charms, the old legislator has prescribed the standard of excellen- 
ce in age, caste, condition, and qualities, by which the Hindoo 
maiden is to be tested. Nor has he or his commentators forgotten 
the requisite compromises that will arise in such cases. 

With great care and anxiety the questions of consanguinity, 
name, physical condition, motion, family, etc., have all to be de- 
cided upon. But let this singular law speak for itself 

As to relationship, " she who is not descended from his paternal 
or maternal ancestors within the sixth degree, and who is not 
known by the family name to be of the same primitive stock with 
his father or mother, is eligible by a twice-born man for nuptials 
and holy union." 

The phrase " twice-born " refers to the investiture of high-caste 
men with the sacred string into the full immunities of their order, 
called a " second birth." 

As to families outside the pale of selection Menu ordains : " In 
connecting himself with a wife let him studiously avoid the ten 
following families, be they ever so great, or ever so rich in kine, 
goats, sheep, gold, and grain — the family that has omitted pre- 
scribed acts of religion ; that which has produced no male chil- 
dren ; that in which the Veda has not been read ; that which has 
thick hair on the body ; and those which have been subject to 
hemorrhoids, to phthisis, to dyspepsia, to epilepsy, to leprosy and 
to elephantiasis." 

The right family and the proper relationship having been care- 
fully sought and found, the child's personal suitability is then 
examined ; and first her age : " A Brahmin should, according to 
law, marry a maiden about a third of his own age." The exact 



BETROTHED AND SECLUDED HENCEFOllTH. 481 

proportion is not frequently realized ; but whether the bridegroom 
be old or young, the Hindoo bride should not be over twelve years 
of age. 

Her name is the next consideration, and the legislator has seri- 
ously provided for this also. Lovers in this land offer new names, 
and ladies accept them and lose their own. In India it is not so. 
There the wife is ever known only by her maiden name ; hence 
the name is of vital importance, and the law gravely prescribes as 
follows : " Let him not marry a girl with the name of a constella- 
tion, of a tree, or of a river, of a barbarous nation, or of a mountain, 
or of a winged creature, a snake, or a slave ; nor one with any 
name raising an image of terror. The names of women should 
be agreeable, soft, clear, captivating the fancy, auspicious, ending 
in long vowels, resembling words of benediction." Chapter iii, 
sec. 4. 

A list of sixty-nine names of Hindoo ladies is before us as we 
write, and all of them answer to this requirement. They run 
thus : " Hira, Kaminee, Dasee, Munee, Pudma, Sidhoo, Bhowanee, 
Rutuna," etc. 

The preliminaries we have already noted completed, the two 
children are then duly and properly betrothed by the officiating 
Brahmin. So legal, however, is the ceremony considered, that, 
should the boy die ere they come to live together as man and wife, 
the little girl is thereby considered a widow, and under the law of 
her religion is debarred from ever marrying any one else. Indeed, 
till British humanity interfered, many of them became suttees, and 
were actually burned with the dead body of the youth whom they 
never knew nor loved as a husband — being at once a virgin, a 
widow, and a suttee on the last wretched day of their singular life ! 

As soon as the ceremony of betrothal has taken place, the little 
girl enters on a new phase of her existence. Henceforth she is no 
more free to roam the fields and enjoy the lovely face of nature. 
Reserved for her husband, she can no longer be seen with pro- 
priety by any man save her father and brothers. 

She is from that day " a purdah nasheen " — one who sits behind 



482 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

the curtains, within the inclosure which surrounds her mother's 
home, and her education commences. 

What, then, is the education, so called, which the betrothed wife 
in her Hindoo home receives during her five or six years of train- 
ing for her future life ? Her mother is her sole instructor. But 
she can teach no more than she herself knows ; that, however, she 
fully communicates. We may epitomize the young lady's educa- 
tion, the entire curriculum of it, under four heads, cooking, do 
mestic service, religion, and their peculiar female literature. 

The first qualification is to cook, not only well, but appropriately. 
Each caste has its own ordinances, and these are very minute and 
particular as to the kinds of food that may be eaten, their mode of 
preparation and serving, and the care required to preserve the 
cooking utensils from all contact with things or persons whose 
touch would pollute them. In fact, caste is preserved in the mat- 
ter of food more carefully than in any thing else. A violation of 
her duty here would involve consequences at which she is taught 
to shudder. The health and life of her husband may be forfeited 
by an unintentional neglect of hers. Even where wealth and high 
position may excuse her from the drudgery of preparation, the 
Hindoo wife is not released from the careful superintendence of 
this vital duty. We in this western world have little idea of the 
importance attached to it there, where, indeed, it may be truly 
said that their "kingdom of God is meat and drink," and where 
the Christian freedom of the text, "Every creature of God is good, 
and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving," is a 
doctrine unknown and a liberty unenjoyed. By the little lady 
long, weary months are thus employed in the acquirement of these 
distinctions and customs. 

Woman, ignorant though she be, is the depository of the system 
of Hindustanee heathenism. She was taught it orally by her 
mother in girlhood. In her memory are treasured up the " slokes' 
of her religion — the verses of the Shasters which illustrate the 
popular idolatry. She has learned the histories of her gods and 
the dialogues of her mythological legends, and with these she is 



EDUCATION OF THE HINDOO MAIDEN. A^l 

now industriously storing the mind of the child whom she is train- 
ing to be a Hindoo wife. 

To these she adds the literature for females found in ehe books 
of her country. Space permits us to notice but one of those man- 
uals of maiden education, which this mother is now teaching from 
her own remembrance — for she cannot read a word of it — to her 
little daughter to fit her for her future duties. 

There are three leading deities in Hindooism. The first, Brah- 
ma, is not worshiped ; he lost the right to be by his own unspeak- 
able vileness. The other two, Vishnu and Shiva, divide between 
them the more special regard of the women of India ; and as the 
two gods are in a state of hostility, their devotees join their re- 
spective factions and keep up the wordy contest. Vishnu and 
Shiva have consorts who, of course, take sides, each with her own 
lord and against the other. Lakshmi is Vishnu's consort, and 
Parvati that of Shiva. The two deities seem to have left the high 
dispute, so far as words are concerned, to be carried on by their 
ladies, between whom it is supposed to be progressing continually. 
The little book containing this celestial quarrel is a special favorite 
with the women of India ; they learn it and treasure its sentences 
in their memory, and rehearse it, taking the parts at festivals and 
other occasions, for the amusement of the guests. 

This abominable circle of endless strife, in every bitter invective 
uttered, refers to alleged facts in the mythological history of the 
parties named, and of course has a depth of meaning and pungency 
which it is impossible to convey to readers unacquainted with the 
legends of India. But enough is here intimated to cause the 
gentle heart of any Christian woman to compassionate the millions 
of her sex who are thus systematically debauched in their imagina- 
tions and affections by their very mothers, as they educate them 
thus to continue their own degradation and that of their offspring 
forever. How much such females need the Christian teacher, and 
what light the Holy Bible would bring to such homes, and what a 
contrast of loveliness, and purity, and goodness the story of our In- 
carnate God would be to such instruction, can be seen at a glance ! 



484 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

We have mentioned the present dawn of a better day. It is but 
the dawn. Dr. Mullen's statistics tell us that already there are 
39,647 women and girls receiving an education in the Zenana 
schools in India. The number is by this time larger, and still 
increasing, yet what are these among 100,000,000 ! 

The question of caste has an immense influence in the mar- 
riage arrangement of the Hindoos, and its discriminations against 
women are particularly mean and insulting to her nature ; while 
the compromises constantly occurring show how the cupidity of 
the legislators, and of the violators of the code, outrage the pro- 
fessed inflexibility of their own regulations. 

For instance, the Institutes ordain : " Men of the twice-born 
classes, who, through weakness of intellect or irregularity, marry 
women of the lowest class, very soon degrade their families and 
progeny to the state of Sudras. A Brahmin, if he takes a Sudra 
as his first wife, sinks to the region of torment ; if he have a child 
by her he loses even his priestly rank." 

In their absurd mythology, the deities and the souls of their an- 
cestors are represented as suffering from hunger, which can only 
be appeased by human attention, the cooking and presentation of 
which is part of the wife's duty. The regular and frequent fulfill- 
ment of this service is considered to merit heaven. But these 
dainty deities and transmigrated folk are too fastidious to touch 
the offering, hungry though they be, unless proffered by high-caste 
hands. The result is, that the lady of low rank can never rise in 
India, while the favored few of high caste, with all their peculiar 
immunities, are sacredly reserved for themselves by these sacer- 
dotal legislators. 

The head of a family, a shade higher in caste, will not give his 
son in marriage to the daughter of a family a shade lower on equal 
terms. But he will do it on receiving a sum of money in propor- 
tion to the means of that family, the cash condoning the caste. 

April and May are favorite months for the marriage ceremony 
among the Hindoos, though the rite takes place earlier in the year. 
But no father will have a marriage in his house during June, July, 



MARRIAGE PROCESSIONS. 485 

August, and September, the universal belief being that the deity 
is then, during the whole rainy season, down on a visit to the cele- 
brated Rajah Bull, and is consequently unable to bless the rite 
with his presence. 

The ceremonies of marriage in India are too well known to need 
repetition here. Often, when traveling at night in my palanquin, 
I have been roused from my sleep by my bearers catching sight of 
an approaching marriage procession, with its torches, music, and 
shouting ; falling in with the enthusiasm of each event, they would 
cry out that "the bridegroom cometh." First, the bridegroom 
would make his appearance, mounted on a fine horse, splendidly 
caparisoned — his own or borrowed for the occasion — and wearing 
a grand coat, decked out in tinsel and gold thread, with the matri- 
monial crown on his head, and his richly embroidered slippers, all 
very fine, his friends shouting and dancing along-side of him ; and, 
of course, as he passes, we make our salaam and wish him joy. 

Right behind the bridegroom's horse comes the palanquin of the 
bride, but she is vailed, and the Venetians are closely shut, and on 
the little lady is borne to a home which she never saw before, to 
surrender herself into the hands of one who has neither wooed nor 
won her ; a bride without a choice, with no voice in her own des- 
tiny ; married without preference ; "handed over, by those who 
assumed to do all the thinking for her, to a fate where the feelings 
of her heart were never consulted in the most important transac- 
tion of her existence ; beginning her married life under circum- 
stances which preclude the possibility of her being sustained by 
the affection which is founded upon esteem. 

When the procession has come within hailing distance of his 
home the watching friends go forth to meet the bridegroom, the 
bride enters her apartments, the door is shut, and the guests are 
entertained in other parts of the establishment. 

Let us now consider her life as a married lady in her own home, 
surrounded by the cruel prejudices and customs which meet her at 
the threshold and subject her to their sway. What they are may 
be gathered from a few statements. 



486 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

When I sit down at a table in this land, spread with Heaven's 
bounty for the family and friends, and look at the Christian woman 
who so sweetly presides at the board, and whose blessed presence 
sheds such light and gladness on the scene, I often sigh to think 
that no such sight as this is enjoyed in India, for that land is 
cursed by the iron rule of a system which denies to her the joys 
and charities of social life. No lady in India sits at the head of 
her own table ; no stranger can share her presence in hospitality ; 
her healing word or hand cannot be extended to the sick or to the 
whole. Woman's gentle, blessed ministries have no exercise in 
India. Her services are all selfishly reserved for him whom now 
she is taught to regard as lord and master, and on whom she is 
henceforth to wait in a state of abject submission and obedience 
that has no parallel in any other system in this world. 

My lady readers will bear in mind that these conditions are all 
realized within the four walls of the "compound" which inclose the 
home of the Hindoo lady. That compound is the woman's world 
in India. In it she lives, and seldom leaves it till she is carried 
out a corpse. Ever while she inhabits it, she has "jealousy for her 
jailer, and suspicion as her spy ;" and fain would her husband 
draw all these bonds tighter when he is obliged to trust her in his 
absence. Thus saith the Shaster : " If a man goes on a journey, 
his wife shall not divert herself by play, nor shall see any public 
show, nor shall laugh, nor shall dress herself in jewels or fine 
clothes, nor hear music, nor shall sit at the window, nor shall 
behold any thing choice and rare, but shall fasten well the house 
door, and remain private, and shall not eat any dainty food, and 
shall not blacken her eyes with powder, and shall not view her face 
in a mirror ; she shall never amuse herself in any such agreeable 
employment during the absence of her husband." 

Was there any insult ever offered to a lady's nature equal to 
that which this law has laid down, when it enjoins the Brahmin to 
suspend his reading of the Veda to his disciples should a woman 
happen to come in sight while he was so employed, and directs 
him not to resume the utterance of the holy texts until she has 



WOMAIf'S SUB ORDINATION ENJOINED. 487 

passed beyond the possibility of hearing them ? Her ear is not 
pure enough to hear what the vilest male thief or sensualist in the 
Bazaar may listen to freely ! Woman's religious knowledge must 
not rise higher than the Shasters, The " holy " Vedas are re- 
served for men, and for them alone. 

These old laws were in existence when the New Testament was 
written ; and in the provisions of that Christianity which threw its 
blessed protection over woman's nature and rights, did not the 
Holy Spirit glance at these wrongs, and provide the principle of 
their final overthrow when he said : " There is neither Jew nor 
Greek ; there is neither bond nor free ; there is neither male nor 
female ; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus ? " — one in the freedom, 
equality and privilege to which Heaven's impartial mercy was to 
raise the Pariah, the woman, and the slave, from the degradation 
to which heathenism, in its pride of power, had reduced those over 
whom it could thus safely tyrannize. 

The Shaster renders her duty very definitely, as follows : " When 
in the presence of her husband, a woman must keep her eyes upon 
her master and be ready to receive his commands. When he 
speaks she must be quiet, and listen to nothing else besides 
When he calls she must leave every thing else and attend upon 
him alone. A woman has no other god on earth but her husband. 
The most excellent of all good works that she can perform is to 
gratify him with the strictest obedience. This should be her only 
devotion. Though he be aged, infirm, dissipated, a drunkard, or a 
debauchee, she must still regard him as her god. She must serve 
him with all her might, obeying him in all things, spying no defects 
in his character, and giving him no cause for disquiet. If he 
laughs, she must also laugh ; if he weeps, she must also weep ; if 
he sings, she must be in an ecstasy." 

Menu declares, " Though inobservant of approved usages, [the 
services of their religion,] or enamored of another woman, or 
devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must constantly be revered 
as a god by a virtuous wife." — Institutes, sec. 154. Such is the 
law, and the popular sentiment is not better than the law even to- 



488 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

day, after these long ages of helpless woman's subordination and 
suffering. 

She waits upon her lord, who is "her god, her guru, and her 
religion," as the Shaster phrases it. She lulls him to rest by the 
soft shampooing of his feet, and is at once his slave and stewardess. 
Her worth is well summed up by one of their poets, who describes 
the best condition she can know, when her bereaved husband thus 
laments her : 

" Dost thou depart, who didst prepare 
My savory food with skillful care ? 
On whom alone of woman kind 
In ceaseless love I fixed my mind ? 
Whose palms so softly rubbed my feet, 
Till charmed I lay in slumbers sweet ? 
Who tendedst me with wakeful eyes. 
The last to sleep, the first to rise. 
Now weary night denies repose ; 
My eyelids never more shall close." 

Yet while living she might not walk by his side, even in the 
marriage procession ; she may not even call him by his name nor 
directly address him ; nor can a friend so far notice her existence 
as to inquire for her welfare, for the Sacontala lays it down as a 
rule of social life that " it is against good manners to inquire con- 
cerning the wife of another man." The face of any man, save her 
husband and father, and her own and husband's brothers, she must 
never see, at the risk of compromising her character. So invet- 
erate is the prejudice occasioned by their education that many of 
the women of India have sacrificed their lives sooner than violate 
the rule. The writer heard of a case which sadly illustrates this. 
In the detachment which Major Broadfoot had to take from Lodiana 
to Cabul in 1841 there were wives of many native officers, and the 
Major, in the performance of his troublesome duty, had them each 
provided for their long journey with a howdah fixed on a camel's 
back. During the march one of these came to the ground sud- 
denly, and there was a general halt, for the native lady had got 
entangled in the frame-work and had swung around beneath. An 
English officer, seeing her danger, sprang from his horse to rescue 




Hindoo Woman and her Husband, 



WIVBS NOT ALLOWED TO EAT WLTH HUSBANDS. 49 1 

her ; but his action was arrested by the other ladies, who saw his 
intention as well as the lady's peril, and from behind their curtains 
cried out that he must not approach her, as he could not save her 
unless by touching her person and lifting the vail that enveloped 
her. The astonished officer would have done it, nevertheless, had 
it not been that the poor lady herself implored him not to approach 
her—she would rather risk death. Her struggle to escape was in 
vain ; the terrified and unwieldly beast actually trampled her to 
death before their eyes ! 

Look into the home where we left the young bride, and see her 
as she begins the duties for which she has been trained. She rises 
to prepare her husband's food, and when all is ready and laid out 
upon the mat — for they ignore such aids as chairs and tables, 
knives or forks, and take their meals with the hand, sitting on the 
floor — she then announces to her lord that his meal is ready. He 
enters and sits down, and finds all duly prepared by her care. 
Why does she still stand .? Why not sit down, too, and share with 
her husband the good things which she has made ready .? She 
dares not. He would not allow it — the law of her religion forbids 
it, She must stand and wait upon him. He "eats his morsel 
alone " truly. No wife in India can legally dine with her husband 
unless she becomes a Christian. 

The opposite wood-cut, taken from a picture of a Hindoo home 
of the middle class, shows the situation of affairs generally. It is 
substantially the same whether the person be wealthier or poorer 
than the one here represented. The higher classes use more 
indulgences. The weather is warm and a fan is needed, or a fly 
flapper is required, for he considers that he cannot use his curry- 
stained fingers to drive the flies away or cool himself; so the duty 
in either case devolves upon the wife. 

The fan is made of a fragrant grass called kJius-khus ; a basin of 
water is at her feet, and she dips the fan into it occasionally, shak- 
ing off the heavy drops, and cools her lord and master, who enjoys, 
as he eats, the fragrant evaporation. Or the mosquitoes may be 
troublesome, and provision is made also for this. The tail of the 



492 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

yak, or snow-cow of Thibet, white and bushy, inserted into an 
ornamental shaft, is ready at hand, and with it the lady whisks 
around him. and saves him from the slightest inconvenience. 

The duty is patiently performed, and when he has fully satisfied 
himself, she removes what remains to another apartment — for her 
religion not only forbids her eating with him, but also prohibits 
her from eating, even what he may leave, " in the same room where 
he dines" — and then, and not till then, can she and her children 
eat their food. — Code, sec. 43. 

Woman is absolutely, and without redress, in the power of her 
husband, and no one can interfere when it stops short of actual mur- 
der. In the western provinces of India the reckless treatment of 
woman was carried to its greatest extreme. Before British rule inter- 
fered there was positively no limit to the cruelty of native husbands. 

Twenty years have not passed since similar tyranny might have 
been witnessed in the kingdom of Oude, (before the introduction 
of British rule there threw the protection of the law of Christ over 
woman's life, so far as it can reach her secluded existence.) An 
extract from a reliable work, " The Private ■ Life of an Eastern 
King," will illustrate this. The writer says, speaking of Nussir-i- 
Deen, the late King of Oude : " Being irritated, the King retired 
into the female apartment, and we returned to our tents. Heaven 
help the poor woman who has the misfortune at such a moment to 
displease or disgust an irritated despot ! An accidental sneeze, a 
louder cough than usual, nay, even an ungraceful movement, may 
bring down punishment terrible to think of — torture, perhaps, at 
the bare mention of which the EngUsh wife, or mother, or daughter 
would shudder. Such things take place but too often in the 
Hindoo zenanas of India. Magistrates know that such things 
often take place, but they are helpless to punish or prevent. But 
the zenana and the harem are sacred ; and the female slave that 
revealed their horrid mysteries would suffer a lingering and ex- 
cruciating death at the hands of the very woman whom her revela- 
tions might be intended to protect. The chief and the wealthy 
man who is disposed to be cruel can act despotically, tyrannically 



BISGRIMmATION AGAINST WOMAN AS SUCH. 493 

enough ; but the kmg, with unquestioned power of hfe or death in 
his hands, if once infuriated or enraged, can torture or kill without 
question. * My wife is about to be confined,' said a savage Hindoo 
Rajah to his European friend, a solicitor, 'and if she does not 
make me the father of a son, I will whip her to death with my 
hunting-whip.' The child was born; it was a daughter; the 
woman's body was burned two days after. How she died no one 
out of the zenana certainly knew. The fact of the threat only 
transpired long afterward, when it was the interest of the solicitor, 
to whom the remark had been made, to prove the Rajah mad in 
his later days in order to set aside a will." 

The discrimination is against women as such. Menu and his 
commentators decree no equivalent punishment upon male violat- 
ors of their law or customs, and he actually shields from all pen- 
alty the whole sacerdotal class who formed these laws, no matter 
how many or flagrant their crimes may be. No such " class legis- 
lation" was ever enacted as is exhibited in the following section 
of the Code : " Never shall the king slay a Brahmin, though con- 
victed of all possible crimes ; let him banish the offender from his 
realm, but with all his property secure and his body unhurt. No 
greater crime is known on earth than slaying a Brahmin, and the 
king, therefore, must not even form in his mind an idea of killing a 
priest." Sec. 380. 

When General Havelock, in 1857, laid his hands upon these 
dainty and pampered Brahmins, and, finding them guilty of mutiny 
or murder, tried and convicted them like common men, and ordered 
them for punishment or execution, some of the poor benighted 
people whom they had thus deluded thought that the earth would 
surely quake or the heavens fall. But, in defiance of this unjust 
Code, they were strung up, and the earth was still, the sun 
rolled on in its course indifferent to their fate, and the spell of 
Brahminical inviolability was broken forever, after the long imposi- 
tion and cruel falsehood of its claim. But in the breaking of that 
spell women in India had more interest, and gained more advan- 
tage, than in any event of the past generation. She knows it not 
32 



494 TEE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

yet, but it is nevertheless true that Havelock's grand march and 
Christian soldiership and justice snapped a galling link of that 
heavy chain that had so long encircled her mind and body. 

Notwithstanding the inhumanity and deep injustice of Hindoo 
legislation for the ladies of that land, their married lives are not 
without honor and influence, nor their persons unsupplied with 
gorgeous clothing and ornaments. On the contrary, the law repeat- 
edly requires these things to be supplied in abundance. But let 
the whole truth, as to the expressed design and motive of this gen- 
erosity, be candidly stated, and then let the reader judge what is 
the value of this magnanimity to the heart of any noble woman. 
Is it for her sake, as true love would prompt, or is it for the grati- 
fication and interest of him who confers it all .-' The reply to this 
painful question I place before the reader. 

Let it be remembered, as explanatory, that in India a woman's 
curse is considered to blast the person, the property, or the home 
against which it is uttered. Men stand in fear of it, for prosperity 
is impossible where it impends. The legislator (in Sees. 55-59 of 
the Code) has affirmed its liability, with the duty of marital liber- 
ality as a motive of prevention. Also let it be borne in mind that 
a husband's passion for sons, in view of the relation of his male 
offspring to his shraad and happy transmigration — as previously 
explained — is such, that all considerations are expected to bow to 
this desire. 

Polygamy throws its terrors, either as a possibility or a fact, over 
the heart of every married lady in India. Creation and divine law 
have ordained woman to be queen of her husband's heart, and to 
reign without a rival. But heathenism has dared to overthrow 
that right, and sternly tells the loving and trusting wife that 
she must, and without complaining, admit a partner in her, hus- 
band's affection, if he desires it. How often are long years of duty 
and fidelity thus rewarded, and the true, faithful heart is crushed 
for life, as she sees herself superseded by some youthful stranger, 
who has stolen her lord's heart and attention, and leaves her to 
pine in neglect and sorrow ! 



LEGAL PROVISION FOB POLYGAMY. 495 

The right to become a polygamist, should he prefer it for any 
reason, must unsettle any man's heart, and be a barrier to true and 
permanent affection. That right to be thus unsympathetic and 
fickle, and to inflict this terrible wrong upon her whom he ought to 
cherish and cleave to, "forsaking all others, as long as they both 
should live," Menu fully grants in the following ordinance of his 
Code : " A wife who drinks any spirituous liquors, who acts immor- 
ally,' who shows hatred to her lord, who is incurably diseased, who 
is mischievous, who wastes his property, may at all times be super- 
seded by another wife ; a barren wife may be superseded by another 
in the eighth year; she whose children are all dead, in the tenth ; 
she who brings forth only daughters, in the eleventh ; she who 
speaks unkindly, without delay ; but she who, though afflicted with 
illness, is beloved and virtuous, must never be disgraced, though 
she may be superseded by another wife with her own consent." — 
Code VIII, Sec. 204. 

Here is wide range enough from which to select a cause of dis- 
satisfaction, in any hour of alienation or dislike. No tribunal or 
process is required ; the husband is sole judge and executor of 
this facile law ; and in a single day the virtuous and faithful lady 
may find herself superseded by some youthful addition to her home, 
or become a discarded outcast, without pity or redress on earth. 

I have been often asked to what extent polygamy prevails in 
India. For reasons already manifest, it is not easy to give a suf- 
ficient answer to this inquiry. I fear it is more general than is 
supposed. Of course the crime is limited by its expense. It is a 
luxury that poor men cannot well afford ; yet even they are not 
innocent of successional polygamy : they often forsake or change 
their wives, and then take others. Among the rich it is very com- 
mon. Indeed, with that class it is viewed rather as an exhibition 
of wealth and splendor, and cases are not rare where ten or a dozen 
ladies may be found in the zenana of a Rajah or Nawab. 

There are varieties in the law and usage of the different religion- 
ists of India in this regard, but all of them allow the practice. 
The Parsee faith and usage limits polygamy to a second wife, and 



496 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

then only where the first is childless and gives her consent to the 
introduction of the second. The Mohammedan is allowed by 
his Koran to take up four wives or concubines, and few of the 
wealthy among them limit themselves to less than this number, 
while it is notorious that they use their facilities of divorce with so 
little scruple that their license under their law is practically unlim- 
ited. The opulent Hindoos are restricted somewhat in the increase 
of their wives by the absurd expensiveness of their marriage cere- 
monies, but are limited in no other way as to the number they 
choose to take. 

The law lays down the subordination which is to exist in a home 
where there are several wives. The first married remains mistress 
of the family. The others are designated sapatnis, or auxiliary wives, 
and the first is expected and required to treat them as younger 
sisters. Every additional wife added is thus instructed by the 
Hindoo authority called Sacontala : " Here, my daughter, when 
thou art settled in the mansion of thy husband, show due rever- 
ence to him, and to those whom he reveres ; though he have other 
wives, be rather an affectionate handmaid to them than a rival." 

Extremes meet, and that often when we would least expect them 
Who would imagine, in a country where such rules of social life 
exist, that we should meet with a custom so opposite to it in all 
VQS'ptcta 2iS polya7idry ? And yet this singular and amazing rela- 
tion existed in India twenty-five centuries ago, and lingers to-day 
in some localities to such an extent as to call for the legislative 
action of the English Government. It is bad enough to be one 
among many wives, but to be the wife of many husbands must be 
a wonderful relation for any woman to sustain. 

India's greatest poem is the Mahabharata, and its lovely heroine, 
Draupady, is represented, at the great tournament, as throwing the 
garland of preference over the neck of the valiant Arjuna, whom 
she loves so well. But with him she accepts his four elder broth- 
ers, and is henceforth regarded by all five as their common consort. 
Singularly enough, there is not a word of reprehension for the rela- 
tion, and the story ends with the reception of the entire family to 



POLYANDBY. 497 

the home of the gods. Sir WilHatn Jones, the great Orientalist, 
facetiously designates this family of the Pandian chiefs and their 
common consort as " the five-maled, single-female flower,' and 
there is reason to believe that this curiosity bloomed then in other 
localities of the land besides Indraprasta. The Code must certainly 
have tended to its abolition, for except in the Ceylon Mountains, 
among the Nairs of the South, and very limitedly in the Hima- 
laya Mountains, the daughters of India have ceased to lament the 
Dwaper Yug — a departed age — when they sang : 

" Prepost'rous ! that one biped vain 
Should drag ten housewives in his train, 
And stuff them in a gaudy cage, 
Slaves to weak lust or potent rage ! 
Not such the Dwaper Yug ! O then 
One buxom dame might wed five men ! " 

Whatever may have been the motive for this unnatural alliance 
in the ancient days, the purpose in our own, as I learned in the 
Himalayas, is the gain to be realized by the sale of their fairer 
daughters to supply the zenanas of the plains, and the dearth of 
women thus occasioned led to the continuance of this unnatural 
custom ; and so one vice created another, and that, too, its very 
opposite. The English Government has done what it could to 
repress the practice of polyandry where it still exists. 

A widow in India is undoubtedly the most miserable of her sex 
anywhere. She is now more than ever under the tyranny of her 
cruel law, and the bitterest dregs of a woman's misery are then and 
henceforth wrung out to her. Her youth, her beauty, her wealth, 
give her no exemption whatever ; the rules, relentless as death, 
enforce their dreadful claims upon her and crush her down. For- 
merly they were expected to become Suttees and burn with the 
man's body. British humanity, thank Heaven ! has ended that 
hellish custom. So they live, but how much better than death is 
their condition let my readers judge, when they learn the facts in 
her case. 

In the first of these pages I introduced a Hindoo wife as she 
appears in her best estate — a married wife in her full dress and 



498 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

jewelry. From a photograph, which has been engraved with equal 
fidelity, I now present a picture of a Hindoo widow as she appears 
in her weeds, sitting upon the ground in her sorrow. Her aspect 
and her attire show at first sight, even to a stranger, the agony of 
her condition, which will be better understood when the rules of 
her now hopeless existence are stated. 

In the forms of their exclamations, when they first realize that 
they are widowed, there are terribly reflective phrases which imply 
that, for aught they know, they may be responsible for their hus- 
band's death ; that not misery alone, but guilt also may fasten upon 
their wretched hearts. This arises from the fear that in the 
responsibihties of their caste duties, in preparing food, etc., they 
may have, even unwittingly, violated some rule of the Shaster, and 
that the gods have visited the violation with their vengeance in 
the sickness and death of the husband. The terrific fear thus 
seizes on the lacerated heart that they may be guilty of the death 
which they mourn ! Her own children and friends, she justly fears, 
are entertaining similar thoughts concerning her, and this dreadful 
weight is enough to sink her to despair. 

The day she becomes a widow, the lady in India falls to a lot 
little less terrible than death itself All her ornaments and beau- 
tiful clothing — on which her poor, uninstructed mind has doted 
— are taken from her, so that "jewelless woman" is the well- 
understood designation for a widow. She is henceforth to wear 
the dun-colored robe in which the engraving represents her, on 
which there must be no seam, no fringe, no figure. Her Tali— 
the equivalent of the marriage ring in England — which her hus- 
band tied round her neck when he married her, is removed. From 
her forehead the bright vermilion mark is wiped away. Her 
raven locks are ruthlessly cut off. The terrible indignity is per- 
petual, for the head is henceforth shaven every ten days. The 
teiTors of the " God of Hell," breaking forth against the departed 
husband, are employed to make her endure the degradation, for. 
says the Casi-Candam, " If matrons who have put off glittering 
ornaments of gold still wreath their hair in unshortened locks, the 




Hindoo Widow, in her usual dress. 



THE HINDOO WIDOW. 501 

ministers of fiery-eyed Yama shall bind with cords the husband 
of her desire." 

But even this is not the end of the widow's misery. She must 
henceforth consider herself as a creature of evil destiny, practicing 
severe austerities ; her weary limbs are no longer to repose upon a 
comfortable bed ; her food is to be taken but once a day, and then 
only of the coarsest fare ; and, lest her presence should involve the 
dreadful doom of a widow's condition, she is prohibited from ever 
appearing in the wedding ceremonies of another woman, no matter 
how nearly related to her. The higher in caste she is, the more 
rigorously are these rules exacted ; so that a Brahmin's widow is 
the most wretched of all : and this is " according to law " — a doom 
laid on willfully and wickedly by their legislation and its commen- 
tators. Menu ordains as follows : " Let "her emaciate her body by 
living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, and fruit ; but let htr not, 
when her lord is deceased, ever pronounce the name of another 
man. Let her continue till death forgiving all injuries, performing 
harsh duties, avoiding every sensual pleasure, and cheerfully prac- 
ticing the incomparable rules of virtue which have been followed 
by such women as have been devoted to one only husband." — Insti- 
tutes, sees. 157, 158. To this the Casi-Candam adds: "On the 
death of their attached husband, women must eat but once a day, 
must eschew betel and a spread mattress, must sleep on the 
ground, and continue to practice rigid mortification. Women who 
have put off" glittering jewels of gold must discharge with alacrity 
the duties of devotion, and, neglecting their persons, must feed on 
herbs and roots, so as barely to sustain life within the body." 

Can any thing equal this cruel audacity of proscription to hearts 
which their system had already crushed ! Yet it may be matched 
by the willful blindness of our American and British transcendent- 
alists, who profess to find in Vedic teaching and Hindoo philoso- 
phy sentiments and ethics which they deem and commend as even 
superior to our Christian faith and morality ! 

It was for the interest of Brahminism that these wretched 
widows, henceforth so useless and inconvenient, should die, and 



502 



THE LAND OF THE VEDA 




their valuables be divided in the ceremonies ot the suttee For 
ages this was done, and the young and beautiful ladies of the land 

were immolated amid sol- 
emn religious ceremonies 
and music, before applaud- 
ing crowds of priests, and 
pundits, and philosophers, 
while no voice was raised 
against these vile murders 
until the Christian mission- 
ary came to plead for the 
widow's life. Then a merci- 
ful God, in response to their 
prayers and efforts, sent 
that noble man, Lord Will- 
iam Bentinck, to India as 
Governor-General, and to 
him was given the honor 
to face the opposition of 
Pundits and Brahmins, and in 1829 to sign the law that extin- 
guished these murderous fires forever. The women of India will 
yet hang his portrait in their homes, and gratefully cherish his 
memory as one of India's greatest benefactors. 

The law of Christ and the legislation of Christian countries per- 
mit a widow, where she chooses to do so, to create and enjoy the 
sunshine of a second home ; but from this right Hindooism has for 
twenty-five hundred years bitterly prohibited every widow in India. 
The Code declares that she is bound by the law to her husband 
even afUr he is dead, and that to change her life is to sacrifice her 
claim to be a virtuous woman. Menu says : " A faithful wife, who 
wishes to attain in heaven the mansion of her husband, must do 
nothing unkind to him, be he living or dead ; while she who slights 
not her lord, but keeps her mind, speech, and body devoted to him. 
attains his heavenly mansion, and by good men is called sadivi, or 
virtuous. Let her obsequiously honor him while he lives, and 



Lord William Bentinck. 



REMARRIAGE OF A WIDOW FORBIDDEN. 503 

when he dies let her never neglect him. Nor is a second husband 
allowed in any part of this code to a virtuous woman." — htstituteSy 
sees. 151, 162, 165. 

Let me remind the reader that these rules refer not only to the 
aged widows, whose long hfe-relation to their husbands might give 
some color to these stern demands, but as fully place the obliga- 
tion upon the virgin widows who never knew the husband's care 
or love. The law is explicit here. Two authorities give the rule : 
" It is said to be unlawful for any to touch jewelless women, whose 
eyes are like the dewy cavi flower, being deprived of their beloved 
husband, like a body deprived of the spirit." " Nor must a damsel 
once given away in marriage be given a second time." 

Old or young, faded or lovely, it is all one dull uniformity of 
woe. The number of widows is, necessarily, larger in India than in 
any other land on earth. 

Can Christian ladies in this happy land wonder that these vil- 
lainous laws have brought forth their fruits of death ; that women 
in India, being thus degraded by system and rule, have dragged 
the nation down into their own ruin, or that their sisters there 
have become demented and broken-hearted, so that they have so 
long and often preferred immolation to the sorrowful lot of a Hin- 
doo widow ? Alas ! tens of thousands of them, after such married 
lives as theirs, ignorant, impulsive, and indolent, when the terrible 
alternative has stared them in the face, have either committed 
suicide, or else, bidding a long farewell to peace and virtue, have 
buried themselves for life in the hells which abound in every 
Bazaar in India ! 

The death and funeral of the Hindoo wife is a very sad topic. 
Those final scenes are complete contrasts to what such words 
express under Christianity. In our civilization, with all its honor, 
and love, and blessing for woman, as wife and mother, what tender 
thoughts and holy memories surround a wife's or a mother's grave ! 
It is far different in the Land of the Veda. 

The Hindoo wife and mother falls sick. Her case grows worse 
and the fear fastens upon her heart that she is dying. She must 



504 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

have sad anxieties for her children and their future, knowing well 
that none can ever be to them what she has been. Coming days 
of desolation lie before them. For her husband's future she can 
have little concern, as she knows that she is in no sense essen- 
tial to his comfort. 

The usual means are tried to restore her. Superstition and 
astrology do their best ; but she is sinking. Her symptoms are 
reported to the Hukeem — the native doctor — and at last he pro- 
nounces that hope has fled. No time is to be lost now. If she is 
too far from the Ganges to be carried there before the vital spark 
has fled, preparations are made for the burning of the body. 
Within a few hours after death it is laid upon the pyre and quickly 
consumed. When the heap is cold, a small portion of the ashes 
and calcined remains, representing the rest, are taken and put into 
an earthen vessel to be carried to the sacred river ; and the rest of 
the remains are left there to be, as I have so often seen them, 
tossed about by the hogs and pariah dogs, or scattered by the 
winds of heaven. 

But, should the Ganges not be more than a few miles away, 
mstead of being kept to be burned at home, the dying wife and 
mother is laid on a charpoy — the light native bedstead — and 
raised on the shoulders of four bearers. She leaves her home 
forever, unattended, however, by her husband ; her eldest son 
instead goes with her, and they hurry her by the shortest route 
across the country to the sacred river. She is dying ; the sun 
blazes upon her with its fierce rays, often as high as one hun- 
dred and thirty-eight degrees, and she is, of course, jolted and 
shaken by the runners ; but they must go on, and she must 
bear it all. At length the river is reached — those banks 
where all Hindoos so much desire to die — and now they lift her 
off, and lay her on her back on the brink, with her feet in " the 
sacred waters," and the bearers depart, for no restoration is ever 
anticipated ; none there grow better and return. They think that 
it would be fitting in such a case to prevent it. So the son takes 
his station by the dying mother, and every few minutes he wets 



WOMAN'S LAST EOTTBS IN INDIA. 505 

her tongue with the sacred water, or puts the mud of the Ganges 
on her lips. 

The sun sinks low in the heavens ; the shades of night com- 
mence to fall, and the place begins to look very dreary, for the 
wolves and jackals which abound will come there to drink when it 
is dark ; and the son, it may be a mere youth, timid and supersti- 
tious, thinks his mother is a long time dying. But he cannot 
immerse her till the heart ceases to beat ; so he watches on, and 
wets her lips again. And there they are, alone, far from house or 
friends, in " the valley and shadow of death " together. At length 
the last gasp is over, and his final duty is ready. He goes outside 
into the water, and, taking her by the heels, draws her down into 
the river, and floats her out till the water is "above his own 
breast, and then with a final push he sends her from him as 
far as he can into the river, and turns to the shore and makes 
his way home as fast as possible. She is left to her fate, no more 
to be thought of or protected. To her son, who thus deserts her 
— to her husband, who left her to die without his presence — -it is 
nothing that the body of the mother and wife is rolling along with 
the current in the darkness, and that, most probably, within a few 
hours, and within a few miles of her dwelling, it will strand upon a 
sand-bar, and be discovered by the vultures, who, with the jackals, 
will fiercely contend together during the night as they feast upon 
it, or that the sun of the next day will shine on the gory and 
naked skeleton of the wife and the mother to whom, by their 
gloomy religion, even the rest of the grave is thus denied ! 



5o6 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



CHAPTER X. 

OUR CHRISTIAN ORPHANAGES IN ROHILCUND. 

THE preceding facts and doctrines will lead to an appreciation 
of the efforts made by the mission to educate and train 
some of the youth of India, so that we could present before the 
heathen the examples of Christian manhood and womanhood, and 
also have native helpers of both sexes on whose intelligence we 
could more fully rely than we could upon our adult converts. Our 
Boys' Orphanage was originated by the suggestion and liberality of 
the devoted Englishman mentioned on page 436. We present a 
woodcut of the present building, close to the city of Shahjehanpore. 

In this institution one hundred and forty-eight boys are now re- 
ceiving a good Christian education, under the direction of Dr. and 
Mrs. Johnson, whose devotion and ability, by God's blessing, have 
made that school the power for good which it is fast becoming. 

The origin of this noble charity may be briefly given here, as it 
is one of the results of the Great Sepoy Rebellion, and intimately 
connected with the facts which have been stated. 

The wages of a laboring man in India is two annas per day — the 
anna is three cents — so that millions of men in that land toil all 
day for six cents, and are grateful if they can only, even at that 
rate, obtain regular employment. This is their whole compensa- 
tion, for they find themselves — as they would not, on account of 
their caste prejudices, touch our food — so the six cents have to pay 
rent, and clothe and feed them and their families ! Of course, 
they could not live at all if their habits were not very simple, 
and the means of life very cheap. They eat only twice a day, rice 
and coarse flour, alternated, being their chief food, with a season- 
ing of curry ; and they drink only water. 

The result is, that these millions of toiling men are always on 
the very verge of want, living "from hand to mouth." Occasion- 



DO 



O 



•5' 



^ 




CAUSE OF FAMmES. 509 

ally, two or three times in a score of years, there will occur a 
deficient rain-fall. This involves a scanty harvest and a pressure 
on the labor market, under which thousands are thrown out of 
employment for a period more or less protracted. They cannot be 
" forehanded," by savings from six cents a day, to meet these dread- 
ful emergencies, and the result is, if relief does not soon come, 
hundreds of them are liable to starve to death. 

One of these fearful experiences occurred in Rohilcund during 
the year i860. So decided and quick was the calamity, that be- 
fore the English Government ascertained its extent, and could 
originate public works to arrest its severity, large numbers of the 
people had died of want. The poor children were the last to suc- 
cumb, for nature would lead the dying father or mother, heathen 
though they were, to give the final morsel to the child or children, 
in hope of saving them. The Government hurried on the meas- 
ures of relief, and also sent around its police to give immediate 
succor to the living and to bury the dead. 

From wretched homes, where a father or a mother, or both, lay 
dead, the surviving children were carried out and collected to- 
gether. The orphan boys were assembled in one town, and the 
girls in another. There were hundreds of each. The Govern- 
meni; could extend only temporary relief, and what was to be the 
fate of the rescued children became a painful consideration. The 
pressure was too great for friends of the dead to come forward and 
receive the bereaved and destitute, and the poor children thus lay 
between hope and despair. No Mohammedan or Hindoo hand 
was extended to save them. There was, however, one class of 
persons who were ready to receive a number of the elder and most 
likely girls, but they knew well that their proposal would be met 
with indignation by the English magistrates, and that they durst 
not make it. They had to deal with men who understood that 
there was something worse for a girl than even starvation and 
death. So the government waited, day after day, in hope that 
relief for these orphans would arise from some quarter. 

Amid this fearful state of things, where Christian philanthropy 
33 



5IO THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

was so much called for, the idea came to us that this emergency 
might be turned to good account, by our Mission seizing on the 
opportunity then presented, not only to save those ready to perish, 
but also to do a great work for the women of India and for Chris- 
tianity, by taking up a number of these destitute children, particu- 
larly the girls, and training them for Christ and for usefulness. 

We took the case to God, and laid it all before him. The more 
we prayed and thought over it, the more intense our zeal in the 
project became, till at length we could think of nothing else but 
those wretched children, and the way to save them, and what we 
might make of them in a few years by good care, and education, 
and Christianizing — and how much they would be to us in return 
as Christian women, Christian wives and mothers, meeting fully all 
this special want of our new Mission, and opening up in the future 
just such an agency as we required to reach the women of India. 

The importance, also, of having a number of boys of our own, 
whom we could train up for God as Christian lads, free from the 
contamination of Hindoo homes, also commended itself to our best 
judgment and feelings as every way desirable. Yet still the girls 
seemed beyond all measure the more important proposition. But 
as the subject was considered and prayed over, it seemed essential 
that we should have both, and both in good numbers. So "a score" 
of each was given up, as far below the opportunity and the needs 
of our work, and at length our heart set its hopes upon the pro- 
posal of taking as many as would raise our number to one hundred 
boys and one hundred and fifty girls. It was a bold adventure to 
propose. We had no means in hand to provide for them ; no shel- 
ter or support. But our feelings and judgment clung to the con- 
viction that it was right and necessary to do this thing ; and that 
the good of our Mission and the glory of God would be promoted 
by it ; and that, somehow or other, the Lord and his Church would 
find the means to do it, and would sustain our effort, while the 
good results would justify it in the years to come. 

Accordingly, the project was presented to the Mission. As was 
to be expected, the proposal, especially in its extent, awakened fear 



OBIGm OF OUR OBPHANAaES. 51 1 

that it could not be done — that it would bankrupt the Mission to 
attempt it. To the inquiry, "Brother Butler, how are you going 
to sustain them ? how will you feed, or clothe, or shelter, or edu- 
cate them ? " I could only answer in faith, " I cannot tell, but I 
believe the Lord will provide." The ladies soon heartily sym- 
pathized with the proposition, and encouraged me to go on and 
trust God, and erelong we were all united in the great and good 
enterprise. 

I wrote to the Government ; they were only too glad to consent, 
and have the children taken off their hands. We might have as 
many of each sex as we desired, English magistrates, in whose 
hands they were, were communicated with, and directed to make 
them over to us. 

On going to Moradabad to receive our children, we found that 
the Mohammedan wretches connected with the magistrates' court, 
at whose disposal they had been placed, had actually distributed 
many of them in the houses of infamy in the city, to be brought up 
to a life of sin and shame ! With an earnestness befitting the occa- 
sion, I placed the facts at once before the Governor, who acted with 
noble promptness, and the children were ordered to be immediately 
recovered and forwarded to us. The enemies of their souls and 
bodies were defeated, and we had the satisfaction of rescuing them 
from hands whose " tender mercies were cruel," and fulfilling in 
their case the letter and spirit of the divine Word, " Of some have 
compassion, making a difference : and others save with fear, pull- 
ing them out of the fire ; hating even the garment spotted by the 
flesh." Poor girls ! what a difierent fate did Christianity confer 
upon them, instead of the "deep damnation" of soul and body to 
which that vile and cruel Mohammedanism would have surely con- 
signed them for time and eternity ! They, and their children, and 
children's children, will certainly remember with adoring gratitude 
to God, and thankfulness to his people, the great salvation which 
was wrought out for them. I bless God, and shall always do so, 
for the part we took in their rescue. 

They were sent on to us to Bareilly in native hackeries, fifteen 



512 THE LAND OF TEE VEDA. 

or twenty of them to the load, drawn by four bullocks each, and 
were laid down at our door. I have four large photographs of 
these children as they now appear — every face of the one hundred 
and thirty-nine girls is there ; and after twelve years' care and 
training what a contrast do they present ! If I only had photo- 
graphs of them as they were when laid down before us in 1 860, in 
all their weakness and forlorn condition, so naked, filthy, and igno- 
rant, what an eloquent sermon those pictures would silently preach, 
as they so wonderfully exhibited what Christian mercy and Chris- 
tian education and grace could do, even for the poor wretched 
female orphans of an India famine ! Can it be that these fine, 
healthy, hearty, educated girls in these graduating classes, year by 
year, so bright with intelligence and sanctified h} the grace of 
God, were, only twelve years ago, just like the rest of the sad group 
in squalor and helplessness ? Yes, it is so, and to the holy 
Trinity be the glory of the blessed change that has thus trans- 
formed them ! 

They were sent to us of all ages, from twelve or thirteen years 
down to the babe of three months, for whom we had to provide a 
nurse. Most of them were weak and emaciated, and a few of them 
dying, whom no care could save, so that we lost, out of the one 
hundred and fifty, about fifteen, who were too much reduced in 
strength and vitahty to be saved. 

What the Boys' Orphanage has become after twelve years may 
be best intimated by the picture, which presents Dr. Johnson and 
his theological class of thirteen young men. Educated and con- 
verted, they have been for some time seeking a higher preparation 
for the Christian ministry among their countrymen. 

I have already mentioned the case of Maria, the first native of 
India who joined our Church in Bareilly, and who became one of 
the martyrs of Jesus at noon on the 31st of May, 1857. She dearly 
loved our means of grace, and particularly the class-meeting, where, 
with artless simplicity, she would tell how the Lord led her to hate 
sin and love holiness, and how sweetly her soul rested in Christ as 
her perfect Saviour. Her father was a Eurasian, and she spoke the 



MARIA'S HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. 515 

English language well. She had an unbounded zeal to do good, 
and an ardent hope for the elevation of her sex in India, though 
she knew their deep degradation far better than we did. But it 
was then a dark day in Bareilly. 

Maria had been led to Christ while on a visit to Calcutta, through 
the instrumentality of the Baptist missionaries there. Thus, the 
first Church Member of American Methodism in India was con- 
tributed by the English Baptists, while American Presbyterianisra 
donated the first Native Preacher to lay the foundation of our work 
in that land. No opening then appeared, even to her, by which 
we could reach and enlighten the daughters of India. Every door 
seemed shut, and we could not obtain a single female scholar to 
instruct or save. But Maria believed that the morning light would 
break soon, and a better day would dawn upon her country, and 
that it was near at hand. We would sit and converse with her, 
and then, with our hearts full of mingled hope and anxiety, would 
kneel down and implore God Almighty to come to our aid, and 
open a door of faith to those millions of souls so closely shut up. 
Prayer would give us renewed confidence, and help us to hang upon 
the naked promise of our God, while we struggled hard to answer 
the anxiety of our hearts as they would exclaim, " Watchman, what 
of the night } " 

This precious girl, who, of all her race and sex in Bareilly, alone 
loved us for the Gospel's sake, seemed raised up to encourage and 
aid us in our new mission. She was likely to become as faithful a 
helper to my wife as " Joel " was to me. But the fearful Rebellion 
broke over the land, and Sepoy bigotry aimed to extinguish every 
vestige of Gospel light in India. Maria became a martyr for Chris- 
tianity. Her blood baptized the soil of Bareilly and made it sacred 
forever for our mission and for Christ. And there, on the very 
spot where she fell, has sprung up a harvest of good for the daugh- 
ters of India of the realization of which we had but feeble hope 
in those dark days before the Mutiny. 

This wood-cut of the Mission-House and Orphanage at Bareilly 
represents the first spot in India where the denominational stand- 



510 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

ard of the Methodist Episcopal Church was planted, in 1857, and 
from which the founder of the mission, with his wife and children, 
had to fly for their lives in May of that year. On the very ground 
now occupied by the house to the left stood the home of " Maria." 
The site of our mission is on the edge of Bareilly, a city of one 
hundred and twelve thousand souls, hid in the trees of the picture. 
The Mission-House, where Brother and Sister Thomas and Miss 
Swain reside, is the tiled building to the left. Just over it is seen 
the top of the Orphanage, which is a square inclosure ; in the fore- 
ground is the school-house, with its bell-tower ; and in front of the 
school-house is the public road into the city. 

I feel assured, with these reminiscences before my mind, that, 
were Maria alive to-day to read this account of what God has 
wrought for her sex in Bareilly since the 31st of May, 1857, and 
that, too, on the very ground occupied by her own homestead, her 
simple, gentle heart would thrill with a joy and gratitude for the 
priceless victories won for woman and Christianity in Rohilcund 
more intense and appreciative than can be bestowed upon these 
pages even by those who in this land may read them with the 
deepest interest. The reason is manifest. She knew the diffi- 
culties to be overcome, and the darkness to be illuminated, as none 
here can ever know it, and as even our missionaries to-day in 
India, who have " entered into our labors," cannot adequately real- 
ize amid their more hopeful opportunities and wider doors of use- 
fulness. We were then in the valley of vision ; around us were 
the moral skeletons, " very many and very dry " — no life nor sign 
of life — and, in our sadness and struggling hope in "Him that 
raises the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they 
were," the Divine Master was challenging our faith in his power. 
" Son of man, can these dry bones live .? " All that we could 
answer was, " O Lord God, thou knowest ! " 

But a change has come, and by means which we then little antic- 
ipated. In that valley of the Ramgunga Maria died for Jesus, and 
the raging heathen, as they exulted over her lifeless body, con- 
cluded that they had killed the last woman of their race who would 



THE NEED TEE ORPHANAGE MET. 519 

ever become a Christian — that with her life would expire the onl}' 
hope of reaching and ameliorating the lot of her sex in Rohilcund. 
How little they knew that Jesus is Jehovah ! Nor did they imag- 
ine how soon He would dash to pieces, like a potter's vessel, the 
despotism which they built up that day upon the ruins of his cause. 
How much less did they anticipate that, on the very spot where 
they murdered his faithful handmaid, he would found an institution 
to be a Christian home for their own daughters, taken from their 
side when famine had laid them low in death, and that thus he 
would answer, in judgment to them and in mercy to their innocent 
offspring, their rage against him, and their diabolical efforts to over- 
throw his holy cause and to bind permanently the fetters of dark- 
ness upon the women of India ! ''Just and true are thy ways, thou 
King of saints ! " 

There stands that Orphanage to-day, one of the brightest hopes 
that shines for woman in the East ; and of it may be said, that the 
little one has become one hundred and fifty, and the solitary female 
worshiper an exultant congregation of bright, happy girls, with a 
future of Christian usefulness before each and all of them. Truly, 
" Thou makest the wrath of man to praise thee, and the remainder 
of wrath wilt thou restrain." 

Our early congregations in India, from 1857 to 1861, had, in one 
sense, a melancholy aspect. There would be from ten to forty 
men, chiefly young men, on one side of the room, offset by perhaps 
one woman or two, the wives of our native helpers, on the other 
side. No Christian families, no social aspect in our services. 
It was all a one-sided, unnatural-looking affair, with a certain 
monkish appearance that seemed dejected and forlorn. Woman 
was not there. The great want was felt deeply by the missionary 
as he rose to conduct the services. Nor was there then any way, 
or hope even, by which this dreary aspect could be relieved by 
female presence. We felt it the more because in India every 
young man looks forward to marriage as a duty as well as privilege. 
These young men, as they became attached to our congregations 
and converted to our faith, were met at the threshold by the 



520 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

forbidding and manifest fact that to all the other disadvantages of 
their position as Christians was added the consideration that only 
a life of celibacy remained to them. They could not return to 
heathenism for wives, for their friends would not give them ; and, 
even if they did, our Discipline might put them out of the Church 
for marrying unconverted women ; while, on the other hand, we had 
no Christian families from which they could be supplied. Such 
were their circumstances and the cheerless future that lay before 
them. I used to lie awake at night and groan over this aspect of 
our work, while the way to reach the minds of the women of the 
land, for want of a female agency, seemed as dark as did the pros- 
pects of our converted young men in reference to marriage. 

These disabilities hemmed us in on every side, and made the 
progress and the future of our mission uncertain and doubtful. It 
was very discouraging. A Christianity without homes, or female 
schools, or daughters, without wives for our native teachers or 
preachers, without female worshipers in our congregations, wanted 
the first elements of perpetuity and completeness. 

Every effort was made by our missionary ladies to obtain even 
day scholars from among the people, but such was then their bitter 
prejudice against educating girls that they generally treated the 
proposal with scorn. The ladies of our Bareilly mission made a 
vigorous effort in that city to obtain even a few scholars. They 
went from house to house, hired a suitable place in which to hold 
a school, bought mats and necessary equipments, offered even to 
pay the girls some compensation for the time expended if they 
would only attend ; but at the end of three months they had only 
succeeded in inducing two children to come, and one of these was 
unreliable. At length, tired out, they had to abandon the effort as 
hopeless, until some change would come over the minds of the 
people in favor of female education. 

I well remember what joy there was in November, 1858, when 
Providence put into our hands the first female orphan we ever 
received. She was a poor, weak little creature, was blind of an 
eye, and plain-featured — certainly no beauty ; but she was a girl, 



THE ORPHANAGE ANSWERS ALL OUR EXPECTATIONS. 521 

and she was all our own to rear for Jesus and his Church — one of 
India's daughters. We rejoiced over her, and felt that she was a 
precious charge for India's sake. Dear, sainted Mrs. Pierce cher- 
ished her with a mother's love. She was baptized Almira Blake. 
After a while we obtained three or four more, but we were still 
pained to think how inadequate were these few to meet the great 
want of our extending mission. The opportunity of Divine mercy 
was, however, nearer than we then knew. God was about to meet 
our requirements, and thus lay the foundations of greater and 
wider usefulness for our mission than we were anticipating. 

The kind ladies of our mission took this wretched group of girls 
in charge, and they were washed and clothed, and cared for and 
fed. Educational advantages were soon provided. Responses 
came pouring in from schools and individuals in America, pledging 
support for one or two, and sending a favorite name to be put 
upon thoir protege at their baptism. Individuals in India also, and 
the Government itself, came to our help, and soon a comfortable 
orphanage and a school-house — shown in the picture to the right, 
with its tower and bell — and all necessary conveniences, were 
erected. To these have been added library, apparatus, pleasant 
grounds, and other requisites, until the establishment is acknowl- 
edged by all who see it, and by Sir William Muir, the Governor, 
who lately visited it, to be one of the best-arranged institutions in 
India, and an honor to the American Methodist Church. It is 
also a credit to the interest and diligence of Brother and Sister 
Thomas, who, in their long and devoted connection with it, have, 
under God's blessing, made it what it is to-day. 

The Lord has graciously laid the claims of the Female Orphan- 
age upon the hearts of our ladies. It is now under the special 
charge of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, as a part of their work for women in India. 

It is a beautiful sight to see the orphan girls on the Sabbath of 
God, in His house, so neat, and attentive, and devotional, and to 
hear them sing the praises of Him to whose mercy they owe so 
much, and then all bow down to worship in the true Biblical and 



522 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Oriental fashion. Their prayer-meetings and class-meetings are 
times of real interest, and in listening to them you realize that 
many of them are truly taught of God. 

The number of female orphans is now nearly one hundred and 
fifty, about twenty having been added during the past year. The 
good fruits of the institution have so won the confidence of all who 
are acquainted with it that it has conquered prejudice and concili- 
ated the interest and good-will of many even of the native nobility 
as well as the English magistrates, from whom the institution 
every year receives additional destitute orphans to be adopted into 
this Christian home and family, and trained freely upon our own 
principles. 

From six to nine girls finish their studies and graduate each 
year. I here present, from a photograph, the last class that gradu- 
ated, from which the reader will have a correct idea of their per- 
sons, style of dress, etc. 

The girl on the left hand, standing up, is Julia Pybah, the mid- 
dle one Mary Cocker, and the right hand one is Elizabeth Husk 
The first one sitting, left hand side, is Clementina Butler ; the 
next, Rebecca Pettis ; the next to her is Josephine, and the fourth 
is Grace Anable. 

During a revival of religion, with which God was pleased re- 
cently to visit the Orphanage, over forty of these girls were soundly 
converted. 

Thus God has justified our confidence when we first took these 
girls to train them up for him ; all our hopes have been fulfilled. 
They have done well intellectually and religiously. More than 
twenty-five of them have already been married to our native 
preachers, teachers, and converts, and are now happy wives and 
mothers in their own homes, exhibiting before their heathen sisters 
what a Christian wife and mother is. Others of them have become 
efficient teachers and helpers in the work of visiting and instruct- 
ing their countrywomen, as the columns of the " Heathen Wom- 
an's Friend " show. Probably the highest work which God had in 
view for these girls is that now in progress under the training of 




Graduating Class. From a Photograph. 



ITS FUTURE MOST HOPEFUL. 525 

Miss Swain, M. D., who has a large class of the elder girls under 
instruction in the theory and practice of medicine, to fit them to 
go into the houses of the suffering ones around them as medical 
Bible women, healing the sick while they preach the Gospel. No 
words can be too ardent to express the importance of such an 
agency ; and as to the view which is taken of its value by the 
people of the land, it is enough to mention the fact that the Nawab 
of Rampore, a Mohammedan sovereign in the vicinity, who lately 
visited the Orphanage, was so pleased with Miss Swain's medical 
class and its object, that his highness expressed himself greatly 
gratified, and asked their acceptance of a donation of a thousand 
rupees to aid their work. He has since conferred upon them his 
residence and grounds at Bareilly to become a Christian Hospital 
for the native women of Rohilcund. 

The Ladies' Missionary Society of our Church has done well in 
taking this institution under its charge. It has elements of power, 
as thus directed, the value of which cannot be over-estimated. 
They will generously support it and develop its ability for good ; 
and I doubt not it will justify all their confidence and expectations 
in its future history and success. From it must continually go 
forth influences which will mitigate the prejudices of the women 
of India, for they can understand the disinterested benevolence 
that thus seeks their own relief and welfare ; and gratitude must 
surely incline them to examine into the truth and virtue of that 
religion whose mercy and good fruits will be so manifest in the 
benighted and suffering homes to which the graduates of the 
Bareilly Orphanage, and their devoted instructress, will bring help 
and healing in the days to come. 

Earnest may be the prayers and strong the confidence of the 

ladies of Methodism in the Christ-like agency which they have 

thus made their ov/n, and which, under their fostering care, will 

develop into a permanent power of Christian womanly goodness 

for long-neglected heathen women, the value of wliich they can 

never fully know till they find it in eternity, when they stand in 

the glorious presence of Him who, before his Father and the holy 
34 



526 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

angels, will remember it all, and, acknowledging that each of them 
" hath done what she could " — to the body as to the soul, after his 
own blessed example — will tell it then " as a memorial of her." 

The organization of the Missions into an Annual Conference, at 
the close of 1864, terminated my superintendency, while the toil 
and care to which body and mind were subject during these 
scenes, and in such a climate, were so exhausting, that release from 
further service there became indispensable. This release was 
kindly granted by the Bishop and the Missionary Board. 

The progress of the Indian Church to-day is an encouraging 
contrast to the weakness and obstructions of sixteen years ago. 
Already some of our native Christian brethren are rising to posi- 
tions of great trust and responsibility in the Church, the State, 
and the learned professions. We name but a few : — 

Krishna Mohun Banerjea, Pundit Nilakantha Gore, John De- 
vasagyam, and Goloknath Chattergi, not to mention others, are 
among the ornaments of its native ministry. Gunga Ram and 
Professor Ramchunder, show what Hindoos can become as cultured 
Christian teachers, as does Kalee Mohun Banerjea, among Univer- 
sity graduates, and others equally worthy ; while Government 
officers, like Behari Lai Singh, and Deputy Magistrates, like 
Tarini Churn Mitter, prove how worthily public positions can be 
filled by the followers of that faith : and their descendants shall 
yet occupy every office of their Government in the glad day when 
their Ganges shall flow only through Christian realms, and their 
fertile lands shall be cultured by a happy Christian population, 
whose redeemed country, no longer the Land OF THE Veda, 
" shall be called by a NEW NAME which the mouth of the Lord 
shall name." 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 529 



CHAPTER XL 

RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 

Explanatory Note. — In arranging for this new edition the extensive 
statistical tables formerly here have been superseded, being outgrown by the 
progress of the work. Other tables, presenting the results to 1894, have been 
prepared, and will here appear. Our readers can thus appreciate the great 
development which God has given to his Gospel, notwithstanding the fearful 
resistance with which heathenism met its introduction, as narrated in the early 
portion of this volume. 

As a significant sample of this advance, made during the twenty-four years 
past, we present our Theological Seminary, the intellectual and religious center 
of our cause in India, which has already done so much to advance its interests 
in the past, and is getting ready to accomplish far greater results in the blessed 
future that is opening before it. 

Equally necessary is it now to furnish a correct account of that development 
of grace which the Holy Spirit has recently granted to our Mission. Only a 
person who knows it thoroughly, and knows it all, could do this in a way to 
give full satisfaction. The publishers and the author both felt that the man 
who could best render this service to our readers was the beloved Bishop 
under whose administration the work has developed its present extension and 
power. Very kindly has Bishop Thoburn consented to render this service, for 
which the author heartily thanks him. 

The new statistical exhibit will close the chapter. 

I. The Theological Scniinary, Bareilly. — While u.sing every 
instrumentality available to spread the Gospel among the people 
no matter how humble their ability, our brethren in India are at 
the same time wide awake to the value and importance of the 
highest possible culture to meet the keen and violent heathen- 
ism that confronts their precious work. They cannot be intimi- 
dated by any show, or pretence, or bitterness exhibited by the 
enemies of the Lord Jesus and his cause. In their hearts is the 



530 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

full and patient persuasion that truly converted men, thoroughly 
trained, with the Bible in their hands and the unction of the 
Holy Spirit in their hearts, can cope with any resistance, and 
that such an agency is yet to lay low in the dust the proud and 
hostile heathenism of India. For such a result they cherish this 
evangelistic training center at Bareilly. 

From the Report for 1894 we cull a few extracts to show the 
history and value of this institution to our work : 

" The need of trained helpers was felt from the opening of the 
Mission. Rev. D. W. Thomas, one of the missionaries, in 1871 
offered to donate from his private means $20,000 for the founda- 
tion of a Theological Seminary for India if the Mission Board 
Avould furnish $10,000 for some buildings. The proposition was 
accepted. Of this donation the editor of The Christian Advocate 
wrote at the time : ' We regard it as one of the most important 
benefactions, all things considered, that the Church has ever 
received.' E. Remington, Esq., of Ilion, N. Y., donated $5,000 
of the money required from the Board for buildings. To these 
gifts a layman of Baltimore added $17,000 more. The seminary 
was opened in April, 1872, with a class of sixteen students. In 
1876 Remington Hall, seen in the center of the picture, was 
finished, and dedicated by Bishop Andrews. 

" Since opening the seminary over two hundred native mis- 
sionaries have passed through the regular course of three years, 
and sixty have taken a partial course." 

As the year 1888 opened upon our Mission with a wondrous 
visitation of grace, that has since added over fifty thousand souls 
to membership, it became more than ever apparent that our 
seminary must without delay have enlargement, both in build- 
ings and resources, and this was accompanied with a divine call 
to an increasing host of young men on whose hearts God had 
laid '■'■ a burden for souls." Where to accommodate them and 
where to teach them if they could be accepted now became an 
anxious question. Two wings, one on either side of Reming- 
ton Hall, became at once imperative, and were providentially 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 531 

provided for to the great joy of the faculty. The result is that 
the classes are doubled in number. This year the names of 
eighty-one students are on their roll, and this will probably soon 
rise to the requirement of accepting one hundred candidates 
every year. 

The faculty gratefully acknowledge in their report the provi- 
dential aid which so opportunely come to their assistance : 

"Several friends have given $1,000 to found scholarships. As 
mentioned, Rev. E. S. and Mrs. E. R. Kiplinger gave $2,000 to 
build a lecture hall. A worthy physician gave his gold watch 
and jewels, worth $350, and laid the foundation of a library, for 
which also an officer in India contributed some $2,000. A sum 
of $2,000 was contributed by many friends to build a Butler 
Hall in memory of the founder of the Mission. We have now a 
total endowment of about $45,000, with buildings worth some 
$18,500. Many friends are sending very valuable aid for stu- 
dents and greatly enlarging our opportunity. We hope such 
help will continue." 

Nor is the training of a native ministry all that this precious 
institution is doing for the work in India. There is here, in 
addition, a "Christian Woman's Training School," in charge of 
Mrs. M. E. Scott and Mrs. S. Dease, with Mrs. Mukerje and 
three teachers, for the training of the wives of the married 
students, which has been kept up for the past twenty years. 
These women are taught to read and write in Hindi and 
Urdu, and then take a regular course of Bible study and other 
subjects that prepare them to work among the women of the 
country. Forty-eight such are now enrolled, and one hundred 
and sixty have taken the course and gone out prepared to work 
in the villages and zenanas, as the necessity demanded, side by 
side with their husbands. 

But the faculty need more financial help, and need it at once. 
Teachers have to be paid, appliances furnished, and many wants 
met. They greatly need a teacher of music (which is a very 
effective evangelistic agency in this field), and also an instructor 



532 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

in a simple course of medicine, which would give the preachers 
and their wives great access to the people in the villages, with one 
or two dormitories more for the accommodation of the students. 
They remind us in their report of the serious and important 
character of their position and work and of the high indorsement 
which it has received when they say to us that : 

" This is the first Methodist Theological School organized in 
Asia. It should be raised at once to the highest effectiveness. 
Our immediate work is educating a native ministry for a popula- 
tion of forty million and in a language that can reach one hun- 
dred million. There is a pressing demand for trained men in a 
rapidly expanding work. Now is the time for a shoulder to the 
wheel. The great deep in India is breaking up. The Church 
should move with wisdom and power at this supreme moment. 
Anti-Christianity is trying to preempt the field. It is a burning 
shame that infidels and scoffers from Europe and America are 
found here doing the work of their father, the devil, villifying 
Christianity and withstanding the missionaries. The scare scatter- 
ing infidel literature and trying to organize the natives against us. 
A native ministry under God must save India. If a trained 
ministry is needful anywhere, it is in a field like this. Our press- 
ing work and rapidly growing Church demand it. 

" What friends say of this institution : Bishop Foster, in his 
visit here, pronounced this " the most important missionary en- 
terprise in India." Bishop Ninde wrote : ' I was strongly im- 
pressed while in India with the invaluable aid which this school 
affords to our work. The marked efficiency of our native ministry 
in North India is largely clue to the vigorous and careful train- 
ing so large a proportion of them have obtained here. The sem- 
inary should be liberally sustained and its facilities enlarged.' 
Bishop Thoburn wrote : ' Our Theological School at Bareilly has 
become more than ever a necessity to our work, especially 
throughout North India. It will continue to exert a blessed in- 
fluence far and wide by educating men who will take the place of 
leaders.* " 



RESULTS THUS FAB OF THIS WORK. 533 

With a full right do they appeal to the Church at home not 
only for the further financial help so much needed, but also for 
grace from heaven to increase the effectiveness of this fast grow- 
ing work, when they say : 

" Pray for us that we may train mighty preachers of the word. 
Give to the institution all you can till we are fully on our feet for 
the greatest mission work of modern times. Inform friends of 
the institution who may be able to help us." 

The seminary stands on the highway of the city, and many of 
the thousands that pass it daily stop to gaze and think. They 
have good taste to admire its beauty, but they certainly feel that 
the people who erected it and the men being trained there are iji 
earnest in the work which they are doing to spread their religion. 
Strangers and foreigners declare it to be a " credit to our denomi- 
nation," and no doubt this representation of what it is will be a 
joy to the liberal hearts which furnished the means for its erection. 
It was wisely planned for the purposes which it was to serve, and 
was solidly yet economically builded. India has many evidences 
that good taste and economy may be united, and that beauty is 
about as cheap as deformity when one has prepared a good plan 
and works to it, as was done here. 

I know I voice the thought of each member of the India Mission 
when I say that we may well pray that God may long spare to 
guide this precious institution its devoted principal. Dr. J. T. 
Scott, to whose eminent abilities and hard toil for twenty-two 
years are so largely due the extensive results which have been 
accomplished by it. I now resign the pen to the dear Bishop. 

II. Thij'ty-five Year's of Progress. — In the good providence of 
God I enjoyed the privilege of being one of the second party of 
missionaries sent out to join Dr. Butler in the work of founding 
a new Mission in North India. We landed at Calcutta, August 
21, 1859, and after a few days spent in preparing for the journey 
set out for the special field which had been selected for occu- 
pancy by our Missionary Society. On Saturday afternoon we 
crossed the Ganges at Cawnpore, and set foot upon our own 



534 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

chosen field. Every object possessed a peculiar interest in our 
eyes, for we already regarded the land as, in one sense at least, 
our own. We were strangers, it is true, and among a strange 
people, but, like Abraham, by the anticipation of faith we looked 
upon the field as our own. Scarcely a dozen of the people would 
have confessed to any allegiance to us, however remote, in a 
religious or any other sense. A thousand obstacles confronted 
us, and we knew but too well that every inch of progress would 
be contested. We were none the less eager, however, to enter 
upon the task which God had set before us, and hastened on to 
Lucknow, where the pioneers of the Mission had already assem- 
bled, and were waiting to greet us. 

We spent a week in Lucknow, during which the first annual 
meeting of our Mission was held, and here we were able to gain 
a clearer view of the field Avhich had been chosen for us. Tak- 
ing the Province of Oude, with the smaller Province of Rohil- 
cund on the north, and the little mountain district of Kumaon, 
our field contained seventeen million inhabitants. It is not 
strange that we gave little thought to the limited territorial ex- 
tent of our field, in the face of the immense population which 
confronted us. At that time this population amounted to al- 
most half that of the United States, and as America had been 
more than all the world to us, it seemed as if we were going 
abroad to attempt the conquest of a new world. 

As we took counsel together in reference to new mission 
stations, new schools, and other enterprises, and new plans for 
occupying all the region assigned us, it is not strange that our 
field seemed at times to assume imperial proportions. Even at 
that early time, some of us could not but feel as if we were 
about to lay the foundations of an empire. The only objection 
that was made, so far as I can now remember, to the field assigned 
us was that it was too large. It did not seem possible that we 
could occupy so much ground, and make anything like adequate 
provision for the exigencies which would be sure to arise in the 
progress of our work, nor did it seem to any one that the Church 



BESULT8 THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 535 

which had sent us out would ever be strong enough to attempt 
more than the limited task which had been proposed by Dr. 
Butler, and approved by our authorities at home. In those 
days a favorite idea, which was much talked about, and sincerely 
cherished by most leading missionary authorities, was that of 
dividing the heathen world into sections, each of which was to 
be assigned to some particular branch of the Christian Church 
in Europe or America, and thus the whole work distributed in 
such a way as to secure the most rapid consummation of the task, 
and also the best possible conservation of labor. Our own mis- 
sionaries accepted this view, without giving it verj^ much 
thought, and certainly without any misgiving as to its practical 
wisdom. As we then looked at the situation, the great empire 
of India was to be evangelized, and our share of the common 
work was the little field on the eastern side of the upper Gan- 
ges, where we had pitched our tents and hoisted our banners. 

Before many years had elapsed, it began to be felt among us 
that the circumstances of the country were changing. Great 
lines of railway had been projected immediately after the 
mutiny, and as these, one after another, began to be opened, the 
people of India were quick to discover that the former isolated 
conditions, under which they had lived from time immemorial, 
were giving place to an entirely new order of things. Distant 
points were brought close together; long journeys could be 
made in a few hours ; the ancient pilgrimages began to lose 
nearly all their merit when made upon comfortable railway 
trains instead of being prosecuted by long and painful marches 
on foot ; provinces separated by wide distances of space seemed 
to be made neighbors, and people who had never seen one an- 
other before were brought into close contact. Almost imme- 
diately it was perceived that converts to Christianity would 
inevitably become more active and enterprising than other por- 
tions of the community, and that it would be impossible to 
expect them to remain within narrow provincial limits where 
their forefathers had chanced to reside. As these converts 



536 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

would go out into different parts of the empire, it was reason- 
able to expect that they would carry their preferences and ideas 
with them, and that this would almost inevitably result in the 
establishment of those forms of Christianity with which they 
had been familiar. It thus came to pass at an early day that a 
question was raised among our missionaries as to the possibility, 
and even probability, of our being obliged to extend our bound- 
aries, especially on the western side of the Ganges, which at 
that time limited our progress in that direction. Dr. Butler was 
among the first, if not indeed the very first, to perceive the in- 
evitable tendency of a work like ours, situated as it then was, to 
move forward without much regard for artificial barriers, and I 
can very well recall a proposition which he made near the close 
of 1863, for us to establish a mission station at a point on the 
western side of the Ganges, where there seemed to be a special 
call for us. In my own mind the proposal did not meet with a 
moment's favor. It seemed to me that we were already stagger- 
ing under burdens which we could not carry, and that a great 
many long years, if not generations, must elapse before we could 
think of moving so far beyond our chosen limits. Nearly every 
one in the Mission looked with equal disfavor upon the proposal, 
and no one dreamed that within the short space of seven years 
our missionaries, after a careful canvass of the whole subject, 
would deliberately resolve to cross that river, which lay on our 
westward border like another Rubicon, and open work in a field 
which thereafter was to have no permanent boundary until it 
reached the sea. 

Such an enlargement was inevitable from the first, although 
none of us were able at that early day to anticipate what after- 
ward happened. If a similar attempt were to be made at the 
present time, if a body of twenty men, inspired with an enthusi- 
astic confidence in the success of their work, moved by an 
ardent zeal for God and for the salvation of souls, and pro- 
foundly believing that the testimony with Avhich they were in- 
trusted was to be carried to the uttermost parts of the earth — if 



EESULT8 THUS FAR OF THIS WOEK. 537 

these men were to be put down on another, continent, and told 
to confine their efforts within an area half as large as an average 
American State, the attempted restriction placed upon them 
would prove utterly futile. For a very few years they might be 
restrained within narrow territorial limits, but if successful in 
even a moderate degree they would be sure to break over the 
barriers, and move forward as God's Spirit and providence led 
them, precisely as the early Christians did when they once fully 
entered upon their mighty task of evangelizing the ancient 
Roman world. 

In India an outward expansion of our work was inevitable for 
several reasons. In the first place, the men and women who 
were sent to our field were inspired by the spirit which has char- 
acterized practical missionary efforts since the days of Barnabas 
and Paul. The first disciples were more slow to take practical 
notice of our Saviour's specific direction to bear witness for Him 
to the uttermost part of the earth, and many Christians of the 
present day are prone to fall into the same error. The modern 
missionary enterprise has been from the first a practical protest 
against this mistake. In spirit it is utterly opposed to all 
barriers, artificial or otherwise, which are erected to limit its 
progress. Without waiting until all Antioch was evangelized 
Barnabas and young Saul set forth to bear witness in other 
cities, and this holy ambition to press on, and still on, into 
regions beyond, became from that time the inspiration of every 
Christian evangelist. 

The men who were first sent to our Mission in India were ani- 
mated by a like spirit. They were impelled forward, from one 
point to another, and no sooner had they gained a foothold in 
one city or town than they wished to establish themselves in the 
next city which lay in their pathway. This restless spirit of ag- 
gressive enterprise is inseparable from the earnest faith which 
characterizes every successful evangelist. A similar spirit mani- 
fests itself in England and America, but when once domiciled in 
a vast empire like India, with unlimited numbers presenting 



538 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

themselves in every direction, it would be little short of folly to 
expect men full of holy, aggressive zeal for God and souls to live 
for years and generations upon one bank of a great river, and 
refuse to carry the message which God has given them for all 
mankind to dwellers on the opposite bank. 

There was something also in the ecclesiastical system which 
Dr. Butler introduced into his mission field which tended to make 
an extension of the work inevitable. Other system.s may be 
equally scriptural and equally acceptable to God, but this system 
has some peculiarities in this special direction. It was not de- 
vised by any one man in a single day or a single year, but is the 
outgrowth of a movement extending over a long series of years; 
and as the product of an active movement it is adapted to the 
condition of things similar to that in which it first took shape. 
In other words, it can only work successfully while it is actively 
.aggressive. It propagates itself as naturally as it makes pro- 
vision for the immediate wants of that part of the work which 
is permanent. One of the most striking features of our work in 
India at the present time is the apparently natural manner in 
which Hindustanee presiding elders and superintendents of cir- 
cuits adapt themselves to the system in which they have been 
religiously educated, and push forward their work into new 
regions. 

The most successful workers that I have met in India are men 
who know very little about ecclesiastical systems, but who seem 
almost instinctively to use the system with which they find 
themselves connected to extend the work of God into new 
regions. A man, for instance, is given a new circuit. It consists 
of a central town, with three or four villages around him. At 
the end of two years he has ten or twelve villages within his 
circuit, in each of which is found a Christian congregation. 
Another year or two passes and a new group begins to form 
around each one of these villages or towns, and beyond these again 
there will be a further extension, until at length the man who 
originally had charge of a little circuit has a field large enough 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 539 

for a presiding elder's district. In a number of cases movements 
of this kind have actually occurred, under my own supervision, 
and nothing that I have witnessed in India has so encouraged 
me to believe that all India can yet be evangelized by simple 
men of God, raised up from among the sons of India, as the suc- 
cess achieved in this way. If no other reason existed for the 
outward extension of the work than this one peculiarity, the sys- 
tem introduced by Dr. Butler would in a large measure account 
for it. 

But reasons of this kind will weigh less with the thoughtful 
reader than the fact that our people have been providentially led 
in extending the sphere of their labors, not only into regions im- 
mediately adjoining our first field, but to all parts of the empire. 
With the extension of the vast railway system of India thirty 
years ago, small colonies of Europeans and Eurasians were 
gathered into settlements at distances varying from one hundred 
to one hundred and fifty miles, for the most part along the lead- 
ing lines of railway. These settlers were almost exclusively 
connected with the railways, and were, of course, Christians, in 
the general sense of that word, and were known as Christians to 
the people among whom they lived. Most of them were de- 
prived of the ordinary privileges of the sanctuary, and, as always 
happens in such cases, very many began rapidly to forget their re- 
ligious obligations when thus cut off from their early associations. 
In the providence of God, our missionaries were led to preach, 
not only to these people, but to other English-speaking people 
living in the larger cities, many of whom were in government 
service, while others were engaged in such kinds of private busi- 
ness as India affords. When the word was preached among 
these people God blessed it in a peculiar manner, and in a short 
time companies of believers were gathered together in a number 
of large cities, and from these centers the work spread, in the 
course of a few years, throughout the length and breadth of the 
empire. 

During the first year or two no very definite plan was adopted 



540 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

in reference to this new work, but in tlie ordinary course of 
providence it happened, as it miglit have been expected to hap- 
pen, that the people asked for church privileges and for pastoral 
oversight. It seemed not only natural, but in every way just, 
that their request should be granted, and it thus came to pass 
in the space of two or three years that churches of our own 
communion were organized at nearly all the important centers 
throughout the empire. This new work was destined to admit 
us definitely and permanently to a still more important work 
among the masses of the natives of India. Let me quote from 
Light in the East, a new book now in press : 

" For some years it did not seem very clear what value Avould 
be permanently attached to our English work in India. Many 
of our friends in America looked upon it with great misgiving, 
fearing that it would divert the attention of our missionaries 
from the greater work of giving the Gospel to the Hindoos and 
Mohammedans. Others thought that among so sparse a popu- 
lation no important churches could be built up, and no material 
help received from the prosecution of the general work. Time, 
however, soon began to teach its lessons, and it was found that 
wherever a foothold had been gained among the English-speak- 
ing people a corresponding work was sure to manifest itself 
among the natives. It thus came to pass in due time that our 
missionaries were found preaching to the people, not only in the 
Hindustanee language throughout North India, but in Bengalee, 
Marathi, Gujarati, Tamul, Canarese, and Teloogoo, in other parts 
of the empire. As the years went by the work was extended 
into Burmah, and later still down the southeastern coast of the 
Bay of Bengal to Singapore and Penang. It is needless to nar- 
rate the successive steps by which our work was extended 
throughout all this vast region. It often seemed unwise to our 
best friends for us to plant our stations at so many distant points, 
but on the other hand it never seemed possible for us to hold 
back from doors which God so plainly opened before us. To 
sum up the result in a few words ; our one Annual Conference 



RESULTS THUS FAB OF THIS WORK. 541 

in North India was at first reinforced by the creation of a second 
Conference; this in process of time was divided into two, and the 
two were again divided into four, so that we now have five An- 
nual Conferences within the hmits of India proper, and a Mission 
Conference, which includes our work in distant Malaysia." 

This outline of our immense mission field is, of course, a mere 
outline as viewed upon the map. We do not pretend to occupy 
all the country, and as yet have no missionaries nor native 
preachers in some large cities and towns. Very recently a party 
of our missionaries have been exploring a vast region lying 
southwest of Calcutta, where no Christian worker of any kind 
is found. In a report recently sent to me by one of these mis- 
sionaries it was stated that between six and seven millions of 
people were living in that region, among whom no one had yet 
preached Christ. In other parts of the country, no doubt, similar 
neglected areas might be found, but after making all due allow- 
ance we still find ourselves with a field extended so far beyond 
its original limits that our task may now be said to be ten times 
as great as the one which was originally set before us. 

One interesting feature of the work in its more recent de- 
velopment is the creation of what we sometimes call " our 
foreign mission." I have spoken above of the extension of our 
work down the southeastern coast of the Bay of Bengal to 
Penang and Singapore. These large cities are not in India at 
all, nor in any way under the Indian Government, but belong to 
the colony known as the Straits Settlements. By the ordinary 
sea route down the coast, Singapore is nineteen hundred miles 
from Calcutta, and thus, both politically and geographically, the 
whole region is foreign to India, indeed as much so as Liver- 
pool and the British Islands are to the United States. Led by 
providential indications, which space will not permit me to 
mention here, it was resolved at the beginning of 1885 to send 
an expedition to Singapore with a view to begin a new mission 
in that city, which should make itself felt among all the adjacent 

islands. The importance of Singapore, especially in the almost 
35 



542 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

certain position which it is destined to hold in the future, had 
been appreciated by our missionaries in a way which Americans 
and Europeans could not at that time fully understand. A vast 
Chinese population is settling upon all those shores, and the 
future of that entire region will yet be in the hands of these 
colonists. We believed them to be accessible in a peculiar way 
to gospel influences, and felt sure that it was of the utmost im- 
portance to the future unborn millions that Christianity should 
gain a foothold, not only in the colony, but in all the adjacent 
islands, at the earliest possible date. We had no money with 
which to equip a Mission, and very few workers from whom to 
choose the first pioneers. Dr. W. F. Oldham was selected to 
lead the advance movement, and, with his wife, entered upon 
his work vigorously in the early part of the year. 

The story of the founding of this Mission is one of peculiar 
interest, but cannot be detailed further here. Suffice it to say 
that a foothold was gained, while the Chinese received our mis- 
sionary with unexpected favor, and in due time a church was 
built, a school building erected, and up to the present time the 
Mission has been making steady progress. We have now a 
vigorous Chinese Church at Singapore, a smaller Malay Church, 
an English organization, and regular preaching to the Indian 
colonists in the Tamul language. We have a second station 
in operation in Penang, while a third has been established 
at the town of Ipoh on the Peninsula. In every respect the 
Malaysian Mission has proved very successful, and in no part 
of our history has the hand of God appeared more manifestly 
present with us than in directing our steps to that remote part 
of the world. 

The most marked feature of our Mission in India during 
recent years has been the wonderful development of the work 
among what are called the " depressed classes " This term is 
common to all low caste people, and is popularly applied to 
about fifty million of the population. All these millions live 
below the line of social respectability. Their children are sel- 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 543 

dom seen in the public school, although legally entitled to ad- 
mittance. The ban of social prejudice against them is so strong 
they are practically excluded. In all the missions of India it 
has been noticed from the first that the majority of converts 
come from the depressed classes, and perhaps this fact has oper- 
ated to some extent to create a prejudice in the public mind 
against missionary labor. Most persons forget that in the 
earliest and purest age of Christianity Christians were exposed 
to the constant taunt that their community was composed al- 
most exclusively of slaves and wretchedly poor people. The 
same peculiarity has attended the progress of pure and undefiled 
Christianity in all ages. The simple fact in the case is that our' 
Saviour deliberately adapted the conditions of membership in 
his kingdom to the wants of the poor, knowing that the vast 
majority of the human race belong to this class. Hence, those 
who work in accordance with the Divine will, and in harmony 
with the only possible conditions upon which the kingdom of 
Christ can be made to flourish in this world, will never shrink 
from receiving the poor, and will never feel surprised when they 
see the poor coming to them in unwonted numbers. 

Some six years ago it began to be noticed in our Mission in 
North India that a movement of some magnitude was evidently 
setting in among this class of people. At the close of 1888 no 
less than eighteen hundred baptisms were reported, while several 
thousand converts were waiting to receive baptism as soon as 
the missionaries were willing to admit them to the privilege. 
Much attention was excited by this new development, but no 
one at that time anticipated so rapid and wide an extension of 
the work as has since occurred. The following year a still more 
marked increase took place, while in the third year the number 
of baptisms, including children, went up to the startling number 
of eighteen thousand. From that time to the present hour the 
movement shows no sign of abatement, but on the other hand 
is constantly spreading more widely, and apparently gaining a 
firmer hold upon the people. The total number of Christians of 



544 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

all ages in the mission at this time is probably more than eighty 
thousand, while all the reports for three years past indicate that 
fifty baptisms occur every day in the year. So far as can now 
be seen, there is no reason to anticipate any abatement of this 
work whatever, but on the other hand it seems certain that it 
could be extended almost indefinitely, if means could be found 
for conserving the work. 

The people are extremely ignorant, and, unless instructed ac- 
cording to our Saviour's directions, it is found that they do not 
go forward in the Christian life, but, on the contrary, are almost 
sure to become unsatisfactory in many ways, and either go back 
to heathenism or bring a reproach upon their new faith. Hence 
the vital question at the present time is that of providing in- 
struction for converts. The converts themselves are so wretch- 
edly poor that they can do nothing in the way of self-help. If 
teachers could be sent among them, and they gathered into 
groups and instructed, at the end of a very few years we would be 
able to send out two or three thousand more workers, and the 
eighty thousand converts of to-day might then become two hun- 
dred thousand in the space of two or three years. A prospect 
of this kind ought to arouse the whole Christian Church, and 
call forth an immediate effort to meet an emergency so full of 
promise. Strangely enough, our friends in Christian lands, with 
few exceptions, fail to comprehend that this is a day of God's 
visitation in India. It requires the most strenuous efforts on 
our part to secure the slender aid with which we are able to carry 
on the work on its present basis ; but we are looking forward 
constantly to increased resources, and trust that the time Avill 
speedily come when our converts will number at least one hun- 
dred thousand every year. 

If space permitted it would make a very interesting story to 
lay before the reader, the steady and indeed remarkable progress 
whr'ch has attended what might be called the internal develop- 
ment of our Mission in India. A great work of this kind touches 
a community or a province at many different points. While the 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 545 

main object kept in view is that of evangelizing the people, other 
objects are always found in subordination to the main enterprise. 
Take, for instance, the work among women. Female education 
has been almost revolutionized since Dr. Butler first took up his 
residence in Bareilly, When I first entered the field, I can re- 
member well that only a feeble attempt had been made to estab- 
lish a girls' school, and that, aside from the very few Christian 
converts, there were not half a dozen girls who even nominally 
were receiving instruction in all that region. Now, however, we 
see not only a Christian college for women estabhshed at Luck- 
now, but what would have seemed absolutely impossible thirty 
years ago, a rival woman's college established in the same city 
for the daughters of Hindoos. The Mission established by Dr. 
Butler can also lay claim to the honor of introducing the first 
lady physician ever seen in India. The first Indian women ever 
educated in medicine were also trained in this same Mission, and 
it was not until the missionaries had successfully demonstrated 
the fact that lady physicians could gain access to the women of 
India, and that educated Indian women and girls could be suc- 
cessfully trained in medicine, that the much vaunted Lady Duf- 
ferin movement became a possibility. It would be impossible 
to give Lady Dufferin too much credit for the noble work which 
she has achieved for Indian women, but it should always be borne 
in mind that missionary ladies first made the movement which 
she leads possible. 

It would be interesting also, if space permitted, to trace the 
successive steps by which a great publishing work has been set 
on foot in connection with our now widely scattered Mission. 
As early as i860 Dr. Butler gathered a few rupees together with 
which to purchase a small press, and a very modest beginning 
was made in the way of printing at Bareilly. This press was 
afterward removed to Lucknow, where it has flourished greatly, 
and is at the present time perhaps the most vigorous Mission press 
in all the empire. A second large publishing house has been 
opened at Calcutta, a third at Madras, anc a fourth at the dis- 



546 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

tant city of Singapore. Most of these enterprises are still in 
their initial stage, but there seems no reason to doubt that all 
four of these publishing houses will soon enter upon a wide 
sphere of active usefulness. 

Our Sunday-school work has met with special success and 
proved an unexpectedly valuable auxiliary in our great work. I 
can remember very well the morning after I entered Lucknow 
in company with Dr. Butler that I was strangely moved when I 
heard two boys singing to a familiar tune a Hindustanee hymn. At 
that time perhaps not more than half a dozen children in all that 
region could have joined in the song, but now there are probably 
seventy thousand who could take up the strain if called upon. 
Many of the Sunday-schools are largely attended by adults 
as well as children, but, in view of the fact that the majority 
of our adult converts are themselves but children in knowledge, 
and in some respects in character also, the instruction received 
seems as well adapted to them as to those of younger years. 

It remains to notice an important measure which was adopted 
some years ago for the better administration of our affairs 
throughout the vast region which we now occupy. At an early 
stage in our history it was felt that some central authority was 
needed which would be empowered to deal with all such inter- 
ests as belonged in a peculiar sense to our own field in India and 
Malaysia. Questions of various kinds were constantly arising, 
for the settlement of which no provision had been miade by our 
missionary authorities, and not a few of these questions were of 
such a nature that it would have been impossible for any party 
or parties on the other side of the globe to have satisfactorily 
dealt with them. In order to meet this want the General Con- 
ference of 1884 made generous provision for the organization of 
what was called a Central Conference ; that is, a representative 
body of ministers and laymen meeting every two years, and au- 
thorized to deal with all questions of general interest to our own 
peculiar M'ork. At the outset this measure was looked upon as 
pointing in the direction of ultimate independence, but those 



BESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 547 

who advocated it were careful to raise no issue of this kind. 
Their object was simply to make a present provision for a pres- 
ent want, and the history of the past ten years has abundantly 
demonstrated the wisdom of those who first devised this plan 
for the better administration of the affairs of a very widely scat- 
tered Mission. The Central Conference meets every two years, 
and its sessions are constantly growing in interest and impor- 
tance. It has to deal with common interests which affect the 
welfare of the work at points very widely scattered. Two of 
our presiding elders, for instance, live at stations which are no 
less than four thousand miles apart. Our missionaries and other 
workers are preaching in sixteen different languages. A meet- 
ing of this body is somewhat like a gathering of delegates from 
all the nations of Europe, with a few added from Egypt and the 
upper Nile. It is evident that as time goes on the gathering of 
delegates from such widely scattered communities will constantly 
grow in interest, while the feeling will become more and more 
deeply rooted among all our people that they are truly engaged 
in building up a mighty Christian empire which is to affect for 
good the whole of Southern Asia. 

Perhaps I could not do better than to insert here a brief ex- 
tract from Light in the East, containing a reference to the last 
meeting of the Central Conference : 

" Early in last March our Central Conference held its biennial 
session in the city of Allahabad. Delegates were present from 
all parts of the empire, and also two, Dr. Luering and Mrs. Mun- 
son, from the distant Malaysian Mission. This Central Confer- 
ence has authority to deal with all questions which pertain to 
our general interests throughout the vast field which we occupy 
in Southern Asia, and its last meeting was an occasion of extraor- 
dinary interest. A number of our Hindustanee brethren were 
present as delegates, and I was greatly struck with the impres- 
sion made upon them by those who had come from such immense 
distances in the interests of our common work. It was also 
noticed that the old-time missionary spirit, which used to be 



548 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

manifested in the early years when the missionary enterprise was 
new to most Christians, developed itself in a remarkable way on 
this occasion. An extraordinary impression was made upon the 
delegates when Dr. Luering gave in simple language a report of 
his work in Borneo, 

" All the interior of the great island of Borneo, an island, by 
the way, which is as large as France, is inhabited by tribes of 
wild people called Dyaks. These men, without exception, are 
said to be 'head-hunters;' that is, men who make it an object 
in life to possess themselves of the skulls of persons killed by 
themselves. It is said that a young man is not considered 
worthy of acceptance as a husband until he has killed somebody ; 
and every man's standing is much influenced by the number of 
polished skulls which he is able to hang up under the ridge-pole 
of his bamboo dwelling. A common belief is entertained, when 
a man kills anyone and possesses himself of the skull of his 
victim, that as long as he keeps it he will have incorporated into 
his own person all the courage and other virtues which belonged 
to the murdered man ; and hence every Dyak warrior is ex- 
tremely unwilling to part with one of these trophies. 

" After giving some details in regard to his life in Borneo, Dr. 
Luering went on to speak of the terrible ravages caused by this 
custom of head-hunting. During his comparatively brief stay 
he was able to master one of the Dyak dialects sufficiently to 
converse freely with the people, and among others a man of con- 
siderable local influence seemed to be much influenced by what 
he heard concerning Christ and his mission among men. He 
had frequently talked to Dr. Luering about becoming a Chris- 
tian, and at times it seemed as if he was really inclined to take 
that decisive step. This man had no less than ninety skulls 
suspended in his dwelling, and his visitors would always see 
them occupying their conspicuous place, and know that an awful 
story of crime was probably connected with each one of them. 

"When Dr. Luering received his summons to return immedi- 
ately to Singapore, he called on this man to say farewell. It 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 549 

was a little after sunset, and the evening shadows were already 
beginning to fall upon the village. The Dyak was much sur- 
prised, and apparently sincerely sorry, when the missionary told 
him that he must leaVe next day, and that he had come to say 
farewell. The Dyak remonstrated warmly, and urged him to 
remain, but was told in reply that there seemed no prospect 
that, even if he should remain, he or any other Dyaks would 
give up their sins and become Christians. He was assured that 
possibly in a little time the man of the house himself would 
take that much-desired step, whereupon Dr. Luering said to 
him, ' If you are sincere, you will give me a token of your 
honest purpose. You have often told me you would be a 
Christian, and you now repeat it again ; if you will become a 
Christian I will take the responsibility of remaining, to help the 
rest of your people into a better life; or, if you will even give 
me a pledge of your sincere purpose to become a Christian in 
the future, I will see to it that some one comes to you without 
delay. The pledge which I ask is this: let me take one of those 
skulls and carry it back with me to Singapore, and I will keep it as 
a token on your part that you wish us to return, and that you 
honestly intend to become a Christian man.' At the mention 
of so startling a proposal the Dyak grasped his long knife — a 
terrible weapon in the use of which they are fearfully skillful— 
and looked as if he would revenge the insult offered him on the 
spot. His friends also looked startled, for according to their 
notions no proposal could have been more insulting. The mis- 
sionary, however, remained calm, and persisted in repeating his 
proposal. There was silence for a little time, and then the 
Dyak, pointing to his skulls, said to Dr. Luering, 'Take one.' 
The permission was immediately accepted, and the horrible 
trophy was carried back to Singapore." 

It is given to few men of the present generation to see the 
work of their own hands, begun in the face of many obstacles 
and in the midst of startling perils, move steadily forth to such 
grand proportions as the Mission founded by Dr. Butler has 



5 so THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

assumed. He began the work among a people speaking one 
language; his successors preach in sixteen different tongues. 
He entered a field containing seventeen million souls ; his suc- 
cessors are planting missions among three hundred and twenty- 
five million — one fifth of the human race. He lives to see his 
younger brethren coursing up and down as messengers of 
life and peace in a vast region which contains two and a half 
times as large a population as was comprised in the whole 
Ro.man Empire in the days of Barnabas and Paul. His sole 
assistant, Joel T. Janvier, still survives, but he is now a patriarch 
in the midst of a great host of men and women whom God has 
raised up to bear a noble part in the work. Instead of timid, 
doubting men, who at first came at long intervals to inquire 
concerning the way of life, the inquirers of the present day are 
numbered by the thousand. All the year round they stand 
before us, twenty thousand strong. Truly God has vindicated 
the counsel of his servant, verified the promises in which he 
trusted, and crowned his life with tokens of blessing, such as 
seldom fall to the lot of toilers in the Master's vineyard. 

HI. Statistical Exhibit in 1894. — Thus far Bishop Thoburn's 
article, connecting the past and the present, clearly shows 
" what (iod has wrought" among the heathen through the in- 
strumentality of our Church. It now remains for me to present 
the results in statistical tables to enable our readers to compre- 
hend the standing and significance of this great religious move- 
ment, and then weigh their own duty in regard to it. God's 
chosen instruments have evidently been *' building better than 
they knew," for even here, before the first generation has passed 
away, we are allowed to behold, with adoring amazement, the 
divine growth of the precious seed, which they sowed with tears 
amid the dark and trying scenes of thirty years ago. 

Enghsh rule some time since nobly struck off the shackles 
with which the Hindoo code and Brahmin pride had bound the 
common people of India, leaving them free to do the best they 
could for themselves. These downtrodden millions never 



RESULTS THUS FAB OF THIS WORK. 551 

before in the history of the world have had a chance to rise, but 
somehow, of late years, by the circulation of Gospel truth among 
them, they have grasped the great idea that in Christ and 
Christianity alone is there hope for them in this life and in all 
that may come after it. 

The sympathy of the Saviour was especially given to this 
class. He rejoiced that '' to the poor was the Gospel preached." 
His early ministry taught that God, who " made of one blood 
all nations of men," had forbidden these false distinctions and 
that any man was to be "called common or unclean." In this 
spirit our Mission went to this people, and the following table 
presents the blessed results so far realized. 

We, first of all, present at suitable intervals up to 1888, and 
from that date yearly up to 1894, the numerical statistics, and 
then add to these the educational, financial, benevolent, and 
other aspects of the work. 



Numerical Statistics. 



859. 
863. 
868. 
873. 



i^9i. 
892. 



Probationers. 


Full IMembers. 


Total 


5 


I 


6 


97 


89 


186 


203 


3S8 


591 


599 


1. 173 


1,772 


1,788 


2,907 


4-695 


2,819 


3-393 


6,212 


4,782 


5,065 


9,867 


5.770 


6,517 


12,287 


17,191 


9.877 


27,068 


18,017 


10,615 


28,632 


27,995 


15.938 


43-933 


36,971 


20,961 


57.932 



Nor do these figures, wonderful as they are, show the full 
reality of this great ingathering. The statistical reports for 1894 
are not yet all at hand, but from such as have reached us we 
realize that the increase for the present year will probably not 
fall below the past five years — and we may therefore already 



552 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

rejoice that the membership in our India missions is no\v fully 
seventy thousand souls ! 

The gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon this work 
since 1889 has given us an average yearly increase equal to the 
creation of sixty new congregations of two hundred souls each 
per annum. During the past year in two of these Conferences 
(the North and Northwest India), the baptisms have amounted 
to eighteen thousand souls. So that American Methodism has 
been baptizing at the rate of fifty converts every day during 
1893 ! Does not this look like the dawn of that morning for 
which the Lord Jesus has so long waited when he should " see 
of the travail of His soul and be satisfied " — the harbinger of 
that glad time when India will begin to supply her proportion 
of that "great multitude which no man can number?" 

Even already it is noted that the work among the lower 
castes does not appear to have prevented successful endeavors 
among the higher castes. Bishop Thoburn says that an ex- 
amination of the statistics shows that " the largest number of 
high-caste converts was reported from the very districts in which 
the largest number of low-caste people had been baptized." 
This is very encouraging. We are glad to have Christianity 
come with its ameliorating influences to the "depressed" 
classes ; but we are also glad to have it appeal successfully to 
the educated and influential classes. It is in this way the terri- 
ble caste system of India can be, and will be, overthrown. 

The genuine character of the experience of these converts 
is a constant source of joy to our missionaries, who frequently 
refer to it with gratitude. Low motives are not mixed up with 
it. They ask for nothing but to be taught "what they must do 
to be saved." Many of the women converts (once so timid), 
Brother Hoskins writes, " are now even more courageous than 
the men " to endure persecution for their faith. 

" Methodist methods," as some are pleased to call them, 
have no secrets in them. They are simply the methods of 
the New Testament. Believing, as we do, that the Lord 



BESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 553 

Jesus, in the same sense and with the same intention, died 
for every one of these people, and authorizes us to offer to 
each a free and conscious salvation through repentance and 
faith in Christ, we earnestly urge its acceptance upon them, 
as we do on sinners at home. The Holy Spirit indorses the 
teaching and the offer, and the poor "weary and heavy laden" 
heathen turns from his idols to the living God and accepts 
Jesus as his Redeemer, and the work is done. He is saved, and 
knows it and rejoices, and then goes and tells others "what 
a Saviour he has found." This is all, and it is enough. 

It may be doubted if converts anywhere have ever sought 
Christian baptism under a more intelligent impulse than what has 
led these thousands to us. Look at the facts. For thirty-fiv^e 
years our agency has been going through their villages teaching 
the way of salvation, distributing the Holy Scriptures, tracts, and 
books among them. We have also been giving a Christian edu- 
cation to thousands of their children, and the boys and girls have 
daily taken to their homes and there repeated and sung the texts 
and hymns which they have learned in their classes. For years 
these people have been discussing together this wonderful faith, 
brought thus to their doors, and now upon the good seed thus 
sown so widely the Holy Spirit has graciously descended and 
given it vitality, and this wonderful ingathering is the blessed 
result. In every one of our schools the Bible is read, hymns sung, 
and prayer offered. The first thing is to teach them to read the 
Bible in the simple village school ; then follows the Anglo-vernac- 
ular school for wider training; then the orphanages, to raise 
teachers and preachers ; then the boarding and high schools ; 
then comes the Christian college, male and female, for special 
training. Adding the theological seminary, we have thus amply 
provided for the wide Christian culture of our membership and 
ministry. To all these we might add our numerous camp-meet- 
ings, which are practically for those people high schools of in- 
struction in Christian experience as well as helps to its attain- 
ment. There has been no undue haste in our baptisms. 



554 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

We next present the agency by whose labors these thou- 
sands have been drawn into the fellowship of our Christian faith. 
That agency, too, in its surprising growth and adaptation to 
meet the great demand, will be seen to be as marked a work of 
the Holy Spirit as is the ingathering of the multitude whom they 
are leading to Christ. 

Agency. Number. 

Foreign and Anglo-Indian missionaries 84 

Wives of missionaries 75 

Native members of Conference 90 

• Native preacliers not in Conference 462 

Local preachers 362 

Exhorters 668 

Bible readers and colporteurs 498 

Pastor teachers, about 400 

School teachers, about 450 

Lady missionaries, W. F. M. S 48 

Female teachers, 273, and Bible women, 250 523 

Total 3,660 

It is worthy of note here, as illustrating the devotion of these 
foreign missionaries to their work, that the records show that of 
the party of six who, with their wives, reached India in August, 
1859, three of them are still at their work. Brother Downey and 
Judd died, and Brother Baume returned home ; but Brothers 
Parker, Waugh, and Thoburn are in the field to-day. The record 
of the next party which came on the Sea King in March, 1861, 
and another in January, 1862, are equally encouraging. Brother 
Brown died, and Brothers Thomas and Hicks returned, but- 
Brothers Johnson, Messmore, Jackson, Mansell, Scott, and Wil- 
son, are still at the work. And yet, further, the next company, 
who arrived in India in 1863, can claim a share in this honorable 
mention, adding the ladies who still survive, and Brother Knowles, 
who joined us in 1858, and Brother Humphrey, now returning, and 
we have an aggregate, out of the twenty-five originally appointed, 
of fifteen still at work in India ; that is, thirty-one years after the 
arrival of the third party, sixty per cent of the three companies 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORK. 555 

are living and at work. Is there any other society that can show 
a higher percentage of surviving missionaries at their work after 
thirty-five years of toil in India? 

We next present the educational statistics of the work in its 
different aspects, from the simple school to the college and theo- 
logical seminary, for the culture of these thousands and their 
families, and for the training of a divinely-called native ministry to 
guide and guard this work of God in the future that lies before it. 

Number of Number of Number of 
Schools. Teachers. Scholars. 

Day-schools 1,202 1,401 31, 734 

Sunday-schools 1,823 2,185 7o,794 

Boarding and high schools 14 34 1,346 

Orphanages, boys 5 16 296 

Christian colleges, male (363 preparatory)... i 5 49 

Christian colleges, female (151 preparatory). 146 

Medical students in Agra College, male. ... . . . . 7 

Medical students in Agra College, female. . .. .. ~ 21 

Theological Seminary, Bareilly (206 gradu- 
ates) I 5 81 

Training school for wives of students (178 

graduates) i 3 45 

W. F. M. S. female orphanages 8 27 368 

W. F. M. S. homes for homeless women. . . 3 9 100 
W. F. M. S. pupils in schools and zenanas 
(besides 32,000 patients in hospitals and 

dispensaries in 1893) 302 345 31,259 

Total 3.361 4,034 136,106 

This table illustrates how thoroughly every interest of this 
foreign mission bearing on the evangelization and elevation of a 
great people, and looking to its wide extension among them, has 
been attended to. 

It may be doubted if converts anywhere have ever sought 
Christian baptism under a more intelligent impulse than what 
has led these thousands to us. Look at the facts. For thirty- 
five years our agency has been going through their villages teach- 
ing the way of salvation, distributing the Holy Scriptures, tracts, 
and books amone them. We have also been sfivine a Christian 



55^ THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

education to thousands of their children, and the boys and girls 
have daily taken to their homes and there repeated and sung the 
texts and hymns which they have learned in their classes. For 
years these people have been discussing together this wonderful 
faith, brought thus to their doors, and now upon the good seed 
sown so widely the Holy Spirit has graciously descended and 
given it vitality, and this wonderful ingathering is the blessed 
result. In every one of our schools the Bible is read, hymns 
sung, and prayer offered. The first thing is to teach them to 
read the Bible in the simple village school ; then follows the 
Anglo-vernacular school for wider training; then the orphanages, 
to raise teachers and preachers ; then the boarding and high 
schools ; then comes the Christian college, male and female, for 
special training. Adding the theological seminary, we have thus 
amply provided for the wide Christian culture of our membership 
and ministry. To all these we might add our numerous camp- 
meetings, which are practically for those people high schools of 
instruction in Christian experience as well as helps to its attain- 
ment. There has been no undue haste in our baptisms. 

The amount and value of the mission property in India accu- 
mulated for the accommodation and extension of the work, is a 
very encouraging portion of this exhibit. If I could here intro- 
duce the photographs of the principal items they would add 
greatly to the interest of this table. It is mostly paid for and 
free, and has no serious burdens upon it. 

Number. Value in Rupees. 

Churches and chapels 145 775,786 

Parsonages 165 446,778 

Publishing houses, Lucknow, Bombay, and 

Madras 3 195,000 

Schoolhouses (besides hired halls) 179 446,928 

Colleges and land 2 • 30,500 

Theological Seminary i 22,000 

Orphanages, hospitals, etc 100,000 

W. F, M. S. homes, schools, etc 446,500 

Total 2,463,492 

Equal, at three rupees to the dollar, to $821,164 



RESULTS THUS FAR OF THIS WORE. 557 

It now remains only to present the yearly contributions — the 
self-help, realized in India for the support and extension of this 
growing work of God— ere we close this exhibit of the condition 
which it has already attained. 

Benevolent Collections, 1893. 

Rupees. 

Missions 2, 1590 

Sunday-schools i,7''6 

Church Extension 2152 

Tract cause 52 

Bible Society -, i5 

Children's Day....*.... gog 

Dispensaries, etc 1,869 



Total. 



7.5^1 



Educational Contributions, 

English residents, for schools 9o33 

Government grants, for schools 53.837 

Fees from scholars 86,839 

Total 1 50,009 

Ministerial Support. 

Europeans 45.541 

Natives, for their pastors 6,482 

For Bishops and Presiding Elders 199 

For Conference Claimants 622 

Total 52,844 

Total raised in 1893 210,374 

Equal to .$70,127 

The grants in aid of our schools are voted on the merits and 

results, which the government inspector of schools finds by his 

personal examination of them yearly, while the contributions of 

the English officers, civil and inilitary, are given and continued 

on their intelligent conviction of the value of our work among 

the native people ; and higher endorsement than both of these 

we cannot desire or look for. 
36 



558 THE LAND OF THE VEDA: 

Deeply grateful that I have been spared to present this ex- 
hibit of the work which I was honored to found thirty-eight 
years ago, I close this article, earnestly commending that work, 
in the flood tide of its divine prosperity and power of usefulness 
for the blessed future before it, to the sympathy and increased 
liberality of the ministry and membership of our Church. May 
God bless them all and our entire staff of workers in India, and 
their devoted and laborious Bishop, until we meet in that glori- 
ous presence where " he that soweth and he that reapeth shall 
rejoice together " forever, prays their humble fellow-servant in 

Christ. 

^ William Butler. 

Newton Center, Mass. 



GLOSSARY OF INDIAN TERMS 

USED IN THIS WORK AND IN MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE. 



(The common spelling Is given In Italic, followed by the corrett or phonetic spelling In Eoman.) 

Ab 'Ab "Water ; e. g., Bo-ab, two waters ; Punj-ab, five waters 

Abad ' Abad A dwelling or city, as Allah-abad, City of God 

Adawlat. Adalat A court of justice. 

Admee 'Admi A man. 

Allah Allah The Arabic or Mohammedan name of God. 

Alum 'Alam The universe, or world. 

Ameen Amin A native Judge. 

, , A -4. ^ The water of immortality : the ambrosia of the Hiji' 

Amreeta Amrit ■; -^ ' 

( doo gods. 

Anna 'Ana A coin ; the sixteenth of a rupee, worth three cents. 

Ap 'Ap Your Honor. 

Asman 'Asman Heaven ; the firmament or sky. 

Asoor Asur A devil, an evil spirit. 

Ata ' Ata Flour, meal. 

Attar Itr Essence, or rose oil. 

. . . ., ( An incarnation; particularly of Vishnu, nine of 

\ which have taken place, the tenth is yet to come. 

Ayali 'Ayah A maid or nurse. 

Baboo Babu Hindoo title of respect ; sir, gent 

Bagh Bagh A garden or grove. 

Bahadoor Bahadur Brave, title of rank. 

Bajra Bajra A kind of millet. 

D-„„ B' ' i "^^^ "Word; the so-caUed sacred writings of the 

\ Bhuddists. 

Bandy Bandi A gig or cart. 

Bwaghy Bahangi i ^ P^^^ ^'^^^ ^"^P^"- ^""^ ""^'^^ ^^S^^^*' ^'^ *^' 

I shoulder. 

Bangle Bangle A bracelet. 

Bap Bap Father. 

Baraduree Baradari i ^ ^"^^'^^^^ ^^'^ *^®^^« '^''«"- ^ summer-house in 

I a garden. 

Bar at Barat Marriage ceremony of bringing home the bride. 

Bosun Basan A plate, dish, or vessel 

Bavnirchee Bawarchi A cook. 

Bawarcheekana. . . Bawarchikhana . .A cooking-place or kitchen. 

Bazaar Bazar A market or trading-street. 

r> r. -D' 1 ' ^ A land measure : about one third of an acre, but 

Beegah Biglia i ' ~ ■, 

( differing in the various provinces of India. 



560 THE LAND OF THE VEDA 



m Begam A princess or lady, (Mohammedan title.) 

Bdatee Walayati Foreign, European. 

Bhadrnauth Badrinath i ^he Lord of Purity. The deity worshiped 

\ Bhadrinauth. 

Bhugavai Bhagavat One of the names of Brahm. God. 

Bhugavai- Gita . . . Bhagavat-Gita . . .A philosophic episode of the " Mahabarata." 

Bhung Bhang An intoxicating preparation of hemp. 

Bheestee Bihishtl A water carrier. 

Bhoosa Bhiis Food for cattle; chaff. 

Blwot . , Bhiit A ghost or spirit. 

Bihisht Bihisht Paradise, heaven. 

Bouzees .Bouzis The priests in China and Tartary. 

Boodha Budha. Old man. 

Boot But .An idol or pagoda. 

Brahm Brahm God; the Divine essence. 

Brahma Brahma The personal Creator. 

Brahma-loka Brahma-lok. . . \ ^^^ ^'^^^^^ ^^ *^® ^^^^^"'^ ^^^^^*^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ 

I Buddhists. 

Brahmin Brahman Hindoo priest ; the first of the four Hindoo castes. 

Brahma Somaj. . . Brahmo Somaj . i ^ ^"^ '^"^ °^ '■"^°™^<^ ^^•^^'^^' ^^^^^^ themselves 

( intuitional deists. 

Brinj'aries Brinjari Carriers of grain. 

Budgerow. ...... .Bajra A large cabin-boat ; a pleasure-boat. 

„ , „ T? (^1 i Gotama ; a historical personage worshiped in Thibet, 

/ China, etc. Called Fo in China. 

Buddhist Buddhist A follower of Gotama-Buddha. 

Bucksheesh Bakhshish A present or gift. 

Bungalow. . ^ Bangla A house, usually thatched. 

Bunya Baniya A grain merchant or trader. 

Burra Bara Great. 

Bursal Barsat Rains, or the "rainy season." 

Buttee Batti A candle or lamp ; a lamp-wick. 

Byragee Bairagi A religious mendicant, a worshiper of Vishnu. 

Bylee Bahli A native carriage drawn by bullocks. 

Caranchie Karanchi A native carriage. 

^ ^ „ ,, (A division of Hindoo society, of which there are four 

Caste Zat i '' 

I principal: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra. 

„ „, , i A Mohammeaan Judge, who decides civil and crira- " 

Cazee Qazi J . , . , , ° ' 

( inal suits by the Koran. 

Chand. Chand The moon. 

_ /^^, / " < A light native cot or bedstead, usually made of 

Charpoy Charpai •{,, 

( bamboo and cords. 

Chattah Chhata An umbrella. 

CheetaJi Chita A leopard ; frequently used in hunting. 

Ghirragh .... Chiragh A small light or lamp. 

Qhitak Chhatank A weight of about two ounces. 

Chittee Chitthi A note or letter. 

Chdbedar Chobdar A bearer of a silver mace. 

Chokey Chauki A chair or stool; a guard station. 

Chokra Chokra A boy. Chokri: a girL 



GLOSSAMT OF INDIAN TERMS. 56 1 

Chor Chor A robber, a thief. 

Ghota Chhota Little. 

Clioia-hazree Chhoti-haziri . . . .A slight refreshment in the morning. 

Chowk Chauk A market, yard, or court. 

Ghovikeydar Chaukidar, A watchman. 

Chowrie Cliauri A whisk for driving off flies. 

Chuddur Chaddar ....... .A sheet or table-cloth. 

Chumar Chumar A leather-dresser. 

Ohunam Chunam Lime. 

Clmpatti Chapati A thin, unleavened cake of coarse flour. 

Ghupper Chappar A thatched roof. 

Chuprassie Chaprasi A peon or messenger. 

Ghuruk-poojah . . .Charkh-puja An annual barbarous swinging festival. 

Ghuttiey Ghatni A kind of pungent sauce or catsup. 

Goolie Quli A burden-bearer, a laborer. 

Goss Kos. The Hindoo mile ; about two English milea. 

Gowrie Kauri A small shell used as currency ; 5, 120 to a rupee. 

Grore Karor Ten millions ; one hundred lakhs. 

^ 1^/ / j A popular Indian dish, composed of meat cooked m 

* " ' ^ a dressing of spices, and eaten with boiled rice. 

Gutcha Kachcha \ ^^""^P^ ' uncooked; green; imperfect; buUt of un- 

I burnt brick. 
Outcherry Kachahri A court-house, or court of justice. 

Dacoit Dakait A robber or river-pirate. 

Dai Dai A wet-nurse ; a midwife. 

T)r,„jy Dandi ^ "^ ^^^'^'* conveyance, or sedan, borne on the shoulders 

' \ of two men. 

Daroga Darogha A superintendent; an agent. 

Dawk Dak A post, letter post, or arrangements for traveling. 

Dawk Bungalow . .Dak Bungla A rest-house for travelers. 

Deccan Dakhan The South. 

Deen Din Religion, faith. 

Devar Dewa A Hindoo name for the gods generally. 

Dewan Diwan A chief minister: an agent. 

Dewanee KJiass. . .Diwan i Khass. . .The audience-haU of the " Great Moguls." 

Dharma Dharm Divine law, duty, virtue. 

Dharma Shastra . , Dharm Shastr. . . . The Hindoo Code ; religion, science, morals, law. 
Djierna Dherna . . \ '^^^ custom of sitting in defiance before one's door 

( to compel compliance with a demand. 

Dhobee Dhobi A washerman. Dhobin : a washerwoman. 

Doai . . . Doab . i "^ ^^'^^^ °^ country between two rivers ; as that be- 

/ tween the Ganges and Jumna. 

Dooley Doli A litter, or light palanquin. 

Dozukh Dozakh Hell. 

Durbar Darbar A court where a levee is held. 

Durbeen Durbin A spy-glass or telescope. 

Dv/rga-Poqjah. . . .Durga-Puja ...\^ ^^^""^^ festival of the Hindoos, extending over fif- 

( teen days, in honor of the Goddess Durga. 

Durvesh Darwesh A Mohammedan sage or beggar. 

Durwan Darwan A gate-keeper. 



562 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Durzee Darzi A tailor. 

DusifOor Dastur Customs, manners, usage. 

Dustoori Dastiiri Fee or percentage exacted by middlemeu and servants 

Dwaper Tug Dwapur Jug . . . .The third age of tlie world. 

Eblis .Iblis The Mohammedan name for the Devil. 

Eed 'Id A Mohammedan festival; their Easter. 

Emir or Ameer . . . Amir A chief or noble. 

Eurasians Eurasians i Descendants of Europeans and Asiatics sometimes 

( called East Indians, or half-castes. 

Fakir Paqir A religious mendicant. 

Feringhee Fariughi , . .A European; a foreigner. 

Ferishta Farishta An angel. 

Firdoos Firdaus Paradise; the heaven of the Mohammedans. 

Mrman Farman ... A royal order, mandate, command. 

Foujdar Faujdar A commander ; an army ofScer. 

Gunesha Ganesh | ^ ^^^^^'^ ^^^^^'- ^^^® ^^"^ °^ Wisdom, represeniea 

\ with an elephant's head. 

Ganges Guno-a j ^'^® ^'^^^ "^®'" ^^ ^^^'^- -^^^^ Gunga, the river, 

° \ represented as a deity. 

Gharree Gari .A carriage, cart. 

Ghareewan Gariwan A coachman. 

^j . Qj /J. { A landing or bathing-place; flight of steps at a 

/ river ; also, a pass in mountains. 

Ghee. Ghi An inferior butter used for cooking. 

Ghogra Ghogra A river in Upper India, a tributary of the Ganges 

Gholam Ghulam A slave, a servant. 

Ghora Ghora A horse. 

Ghur Ghar House, home, habitation. 

Ghurra Ghara An earthen water-pot or pitcher. 

Ghurree Ghari A clock, watch, hour. 

Gomashta Gumaslita . . .An agent, officer, or superintendent. 

Goomtee Gumti A river in Oude flowing by Lucknow. 

Godown Gudam A store-house, cellar, warehouse, magazine. 

Gora Gora A white man ; an English soldier. 

Gossain Gossain A religious mendicant worshiping Mahadev, (Shiva.) 

Gonah Gunah A sin, crime. 

Gram Gram A kind of vetch, pulse, or peas. 

Guddee Gaddi Pad, cushion, or seat; a throne or royal seat. 

Guicowar .Gaekwar Name of a sovereign in the South. 

Gully Gah Street, alley, way. 

Guroo Guru A religious teacher, priest. 

Guz Gaz A measure ; a short yard. 

Hackery Hackery A native cart drawn by bullocks. 

n- ,. Tx^., j A Mohammedan who has made the pilgimage to 

( Mecca. 

Hukeem Hakim A Mohammedan doctor, a sage, philosopher. 

Hakim Hakim A ruler, governor, king. 



QL0S8ABT OF INDIAN TERMS. 563 

Hanuman Hanuman The deified monkey who was the ally of Rama. 

Bar em Haram Sacred, prohibited, the inner or women's apartmenta 

Hati Hathi An elephant. 

EavUdar Hawaldar A native sergeant. 

Hazree Haziri Breakfast, presence. 

Heiira Hiiri i -^^^^ » *^^® flight of Mohammed from Mecca, 1 Gth 

\ of July, A. D. 622; the Mohammedan era. 

Hera, Hira A diamond. 

Hookah Huqqa A smoking-pipe. 

jjoqUq^ ttqU j -A. Hmdoo festival to commemorate the beginning of 

( the new year. 

Hoondes. Hundi A native bank-note ; a bill of exchange. 

Howdah Hauda i "^ box-seat on an elephant's back ; an elephant's 

' ( saddle. 

Huck ,. .. .Haqq Equity, truth, reason. 

Hurkaru Harkara A messenger, a running courier. 

Hurrumzadu Haramzada A rascal, a bastard. 

Huzar Hazar A thousand. 

Huzoor Huzur Royal presence; "Your Honor." 

^uzrat Hazrat < Excellency, majesty, divine; a title accorded to 

' / superiors. 
Huzrat Isa Hazrat 'Isa Jesus Christ. 

!The God of Light. The leading ancient Yedic deity, 
sometimes called the God of Heaven, but now 
occupying only an inferior position. 

Islam Islam The Mohammedan religion. 

Man., Istdn or Sthdn. i ^ termination, signifying place or country, as Aff- 

I ghanistan that of the Afifghans. 
Izzut ; . . . .Izzat Honor, respect. 

, , T' ' < A State or landed estate assigned by Government 

Jagheei Jagir < ^ ° •' 

( as a reward. 

Jaghiredar Jagirdar A person holding a jagheer. 

Jehan Jahan The world. 

Johaz Jahaz A ship. 

Jain Jain A kind of degenerate Buddhists. 

Jat Jat A caste or sect; a tribe among the Rajpoots. 

Jeel Jhil A shallow lake or pond. 

T J T A' < A native subaltern oflBcer ; head-man of a village or 

Jemmadar Jamadar i ' " 

( class. 

r- T- < According to the Mohammedans, an intermediate 

Jmn Jmn i ° ' 

( race between angels and men. 

Joiee Juti A shoe or slipper. 

Jowar Joar A kind of millet. 

7. ,, T '4.U < The Lord of the "World. A god of the Hindoos, 

Juggernauth Jaganath. < ^ . 

( whose temple is at Onssa, 

Juldee Jaldi Quick I quickly ! 

Tir --J T -Kr "A < Chief mosque at Delhi. The largest place of Mo- 
JvmmaMusjtd.. , .Jama MasnoL. . i , / , . . ^ ,. 

( hammedan worship m India. 

Jammaut Jamaat Assembly, meeting, congregation. 



564 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Jurana Jamuna A river of North-west India. 

Jungh Jangal A thicket, desert, wilderness, wood. 

Kaffir .... Kafir An infidel ; impious rascal. 

Kalee Kali The Hindoo goddess of destruction. 

„ ,. y 1^ , y j The fourth or present age of the world ; the black or 

] iron age. 

Kalpa .Kalpa A day of Brahma, equal to 4,320,000,000 solar years 

Karen Karen An aboriginal race in the hills of Burmah. 

j^ . KW\{ i M^goiflcent; the ancient name of Benares, stUl so 

' / called by the Brahmins. 

Katree Khatri A military caste of Hindoos. 

Khansama Khansaman A steward or butler. 

Kheleet Kliilat. A robe or dress of honor presented as a gift. 

Keranee Kirani A writer, clerk ; a man of mixed blood. 

Khuda Kliuda Grod. 

Khudawund Khud4wand Lord, sir, master. 

Kitmutghar. . .... .Khidmatgar A table attendant. 

Kincob Kimkhwab Brocade. 

Kismut Qismat . Destiny, chance, fortune. 

c "Mountain of Light." A diamond so called, lor- 
Koh-i-noor Koh-i-nur J merly worn by the Great Moguls, and now by the 

( Queen of England. 

T^ r, ' \ The supposed revelation to Mohammed, collected by 

Koran Quran { ^^ ' •' 

I the Caliph Omar. 

Kotee Kothi A house, mansion, dwell J3g. 

Kotwal Kotwal Mayor of the city, police officer. 

Kotwalie Kotwali Mayor's office or police station. 

Krishna Krishn The name of Vishnu in his eighth incarnation. 

Kshatriya.. ..... .Kshatri The second or military caste of the Hindoos. 

2j, , 1^, j The Mohammedan confession of faith : "There is no 

\ God but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet." 

Kupra-wallah Kapra-wala A cloth merchant. 

Lac Lakh One hundred thousand. 

( The Buddhist priests of Tartary and Thibet, the 
Lamas Lamas •< chief of whom is called Dali, Grand Lama, or 

( Living Buddha. 

Larka Larka A babe, boy, child. Larkee: a girl. 

T. T- \ Memhrum virile; the indelicate form under which 

Linga Lmg i . 

( Shiva IS worshiped. 

Log Log Mankind, people. 

Lohar Lohar A blacksmith.. 

Lungoor Lungur A baboon ; the black-faced monkey. 

Maha Maha Great, illustrious. 

!The second great Sanscrit epic of the Hindoos, cel- 
ebrating the wars of the rival Pandooa and 
Kuroos. 

Mahadeva Mahadev One of the names of the god Shiva. 

Maharajah Mahdraja A great king. 



GLOSSARY OF INDIAN TERMS. 565 

{A celestial age in Hindoo chronology, including 
12,000 divine years, each of which is equal to 
360 solar years, the Maha-Tug being equal to 
4,320,000 years of mortals. 

Mahout Mahaut. ; An elephant-keeper and driver. 

Malik Malik Master, lord, ruler. 

Malee Mali A gardener. 

Manjes Manjhi Master of a vessel ; a steersman. 

MeiAan Maidan A plain, ground, field-of-battle. 

j^g^^ jj-gj^ _ j Hindoo fair or festival held for religious or commer- 

' \ cial purposes. 
j/g„y j^IeQu \'^^^ author of the legal and religious Code of the 



Hindoos. 

Methur Mihtar A sweeper. 

Mithuranee Mihtarani A low-caste nurse. 

Minar Minar A tower, minaret, obelisk. 

Mirza Mirza Prince, sir. 

Mochee Mochi A shoemaker. 

Mohulla .Mahalla Quarter, district, division. 

Mohur Muhr A gold coin, valued at sixteen rupees or eight dollars. 

Mohurrum Muharram The first month of the Mohammedan year. 

Moolk Mulk Country, region. 

Moonshee Munshi A teacher of languages, usually a Mohammedan. 

Moonsif. Munsif Arbitrator, Judge. 

Mootee Moti A pearl. 

Moulah Moulah A Mohammedan priest, doctor, teacher. 

Moulvie Maulvi A learned Mohammedan. 

Muntra Mantra Mystic verses or incantations of the Brahmins. 

Musjeed Masjid A mosque ; Mohammedan place of worship. 

Mussal Mashal A light or torch. 

Mussalcliee Mashalchi A link-boy, torch-bearer. 

Mussi^k Mashk A leathern bottle for carrying water. 

Mussulman Musalm^n . . . . ^^ *^™ "^^^' "^e Moslem, to denote all who believe 

/ in the Koran. 

Musnud Masnad A throne, a royal seat. 

Muezzin Muazzin The person who calls the Mohammedans to prayer, 

Naih Naib Deputy or viceroy. 

Namaz Namaz Prayer, (Mohammedan term.) 

N'ana Nana Maternal grandfather. 

Nautch Natch The dance, ball, etc. 

N'abob Nawab A Mohammedan title, viceroy, governor. 

Nazim or Nizam. .Nizam Ruler. 

Nimmuk Namak Salt. 

Nimmuk-haram . . .Namak-haram. . .A traitor to his "covenant of salt." 

Koor Niir Splendor, light. 

N'ubee Nabi A prophet. 

Nuddee Nadi A stream, river. 

Nugger Nagar A town, viuage, city. 

Nullah Nullah A water-course, a ravine. 

ISfuzzur Nazar An offering. 



566 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Padishah \ J^, ,^/!', t A king, ruler, emperor. 

/ Badshah ) 

Paddy. Paddy Rice ; rice in the field. 

p , v'c\ ' i "^ common term in India for a Christian clergyman; 

" ' ' " ' ( a priest_, (Portuguese.) 

Pagoda ........ .Pagoda A Hindoo place of worship. 

Pahar Pahar A hill or mountain. 

Paharee Pahari A hill man, mountaineer. 

Palankeen ) p'lki i ^ litter for one person to ride in, the usual convey- 



Palanquin ) ( ance in India. 

P Pflrt!! 3 ■^ ^®'^* found in Western India, the followers o( 



Zoroaster, or the Persian Magi. 

Parsivanath Parisnath The deity of the Jains. 

p . Pathan -5 "^ ''^''™ ^PPlied to the old AfFghan Mohammedans 

I as distinguished from the Moguls. 

r The betel-leaf; the nut of the areca-palm, lime, and 
Pawn Pan ./ spice wrapped in a betel-leaf and chewed by the 

( natives. 
Peer Pir. A Mohammedan spiritual guide ; a sage. 

r A leader; originally the title of the chief minister 
Peishwah ...Peshwa J of the Mahratta, later a royal designation of 

( Bajee Rao and Nana Sahib. 

Pergunna Pargana A district, township ; less than a zillah. 

-p • ' j A copper coin; one third of an anna, value nearly 

xtce, ............ X aisa •{ . 

( one cent. 

Pig Pai A copper coin ; one twelfth of an anna. 

Poojah Puja Worship, prayer. 

Ripe, finished, thorough, (as a burned brick,) perfect. 



^ Used to discriminate a true from a false Christian. 

Punchaet Pauchayat A jury of five men. 

A Brahmin learned in the Vedas and Shasters ; a 



^ teacher of the Hindee or Sanscrit language. 
A large, wooden, covered frame, suspended from the 

Punkah Pankha { ceiling, with a heavy, deep frill, kept in motion by 

a coolie, as a fan, to cool the air in a room. 

Poor or Pore Pur ) ^'^ ^^"^^ *^'' ^^^^'■' ^^^^ ^^ composition, as Seeta-pore, 

( the City of Seeta. 

Puranas .Puran \ ^^^® especial desiguation of the eighteen books of 

" * / the Hindoo legends or traditions. 

Purda Parda A curtain or vail; partition, secrecy, privacy. 

Purda-nashssn.. . . Parda-nashin . . . .A secluded lady; one sitting behind a curtain. 
Purwana Parwana A permit, pass, or order. 

Rais Rais A prince, chief, head, citizen. 

Paj Raj Empire, kingdom, government. 

Rajah Rajah Kingi prince, sovereign. 

Ramadan Ramzan The name of a montli; a fast of the Mohammedans 

Ranee Rani Feminine of Rajah; a Hindoo princess or queen. 

Rupee Rupi A silver coin, worth nearly fifty cents. 

Rutt. Rath A four-wheeled carriage or car. 

Ryot .Raaiyat A peasant ; a tenant or subject. 



GLOSSABY OF INDIAN TERMS. 567 

Sahib . . . ...... Sahib Sir, lord, gentleman. 

Satya Fug Sat Jug The first age of the world; age of truth.. 

Sepoy Sipahi A native soldier. 

iFrom Sura, house, and Ahul, domestic; hence 
Suralio or Seraglio, the family or female apart- 
ments. 

Sewalla Shivala A. temple. 

Shades Sliadi Marriage, wedding, happiness. 

Sliah Shah A king, a prince, (Mdhammedau title.) 

ShaJizdda. ...... .Shahzada The son of a king. 

ShaMraoT Shaster. ShsbStr. Hindoo Scriptures. 

r The Hindoo God of Destruction, husband of Kali, 

Shiva Shiv J and the third member of the Hindoo Triad or 

( Trimurti. 

f One of the great Mohammedan sects ; followers of 

II Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, and esteeming 
the three Caliphs, Abubeker, Omar, and Omau, as 
usurpers. To this sect belong the Persians gen- 
j erally, the royal family of Oude, and most of the 
[ lower orders of Mussulmans in India. 

Shroff. Sharraf A native banker or money-changer. 

Shy tan Shaitan The devil, Satan. 

Sheikh Shaikh i '^ disciple, follower, scholar; the name of the 

( religionists in the Punjab. 
Sirhar Sirkar The State or Government. 

!The milky juice of the moon-plant mixed with bar- 
ley and fermented, forming an intoxicating drink ; 
used in the ancient Yedic worship 
'"Followers of the traditions," who maintain the 
lawful succession of the three Caliphs before Ali, 
and pay great respect to the traditions of Islam. 
The Arabs, Turks, Affghans, and most of the 
educated Mussulmans of India, are of this class, 
and style themselves Orthodox, the Sheeas being 
regarded as heretics. 

Sowar Sawar A cavalryman, a mounted soldier or policeman. 

Suhadar Subadar A governor of a province, a captain. 

Suhah Suba A province. 

Sudder Sadr i Chief, principal, as Sudder-adaiolut, the Supreme 

\ Court of Justice in India. 
Sudra Siidr i '^^® fourth or servile caste of the Hindoos ; now 

} vaguely applied to all low classes. 
o j^ Sultan ) Sovereign, prince, (Mohammedan ;) also a title for- 

( merly borne by the royal family of DeUii, 

Surmud Sanad A grant or diploma. 

Surdar Sardar A chief, head-man, commander. 

g.,ug. g£4^ j The ceremony of burning a widow with her bus- 

' ) band's corpse. 

Syce Sals A groom or horse-keeper. 

Synd or Said. . . . .Saiyad \^ P"°^^ ' ^ descendant of Hossein, son of Ali, a^d 

( grandson of Mohammed. 



Soonees Sunnis 



568 THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 

Taj Taj A crown. 

Talook Taaluq AStateorBarony, usually larger than a Zemeeiidaree, 

Talookdar Taaluqdar A land-holder, a barou. 

jT^^^ Tatti ^ ^ ™^* made of cus-cus grass, kept wet, and aus- 

\ peuded before a window to cool the room, 

Tattoo Tattu ........ .A pouy. 

Thakoor Thakiir Idol, lord, baron. 

Thanna Thana A police station. 

Terai .Tarai A swamp, marsh, or miasmatic region. 

Thannadar , .Thanadar A police officer or constable. 

yri Thao- 3 ^ professional murderer and devotee of the goddes? 

"■"■ ° \ Kali. 

Tola Tola, One hundred and eighty grains Troy weight. 

Tonjon Tonjon A chair with a hood. 

Tope Top A clump of trees ; a cannon. 

Treta Tug Tret Jug The second age of the world; the silvei age. 

TukM Takht Chair, throne, seat. 

Tuliuar Talwar A native sword. 

Tussuldar Tahsildar A collector of revenue. 

Upanisliads Upanishads Expository supplements to ihe Vedas. 

Vaiahnavas Yaishnavas The worshipers of Vishnu. 

Vaisya Yaisya . . .The third or agricultural caste of the Hindoos. 

Vakeel Vakil An envoy, prime agent. 

{From Ved^ learning, the most ancient sacred books 
of the Hindoos, of which there are four ; the Eig- 
Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Yeda, and the 
Atharva-Veda. 
p. , . , j A system of pantheistical philosophy fouuded on 

" ' ] scattered texts of the Vedas. 

y. ■, -y-. , j The Preserver ; the second member of tne Hindoo 

/ Triad or Trimurti. 
Vizier. "Wazir The chief minister in a Mohammedan sovereignty. 

Wah Wah Wall "Wah Admirable ! well-done 1 bravo I 

Wilaei. "Wilayat Country, region, abroad, foreign. 

Wufadar Wafadar Faithful. 

Togee Jogi A silent saint 

Tug Jug An age of the world 

Zcen Zin A saddle. 

Zemeendar Zamindar Land-holder ; collector of revenue of a district. 

Zemeendaree Zamindari A province. 

Zenana Zanana From Zun, a woman, the inner apartments in India, 

Zillah Zila An extensive district. 



INDEX. 



Page 
Agra, tomb of Etmad-od-Doulah at, 

view aud description of 151-156 

Almorah, flight to 282 

Aristocracy of India, habits and life of 55 

Astronomtj of the Hindoos 82 

Azeemoolah Khan, agent of Nana Sahib. 182 
, treachery of, at Oawiipore. .296, 301 

Baboo Duckinarunjun Mookerjee, reply 

of, to Lord EUenborough 360 

Bahadur Khan, visit to, in prison 443 

, trial and death of. 446 

Bajee Rao, the Peishwa of Poonah. . . . ITS 

Bareilly, Dr. Butler's arrival at 221 

and Boston, singular coincidence at 258 

, battle of. 438 

, day of small things at 223 

, desperate charge of Ghazees at 

battle of. 439 

, destruction at 257 

, Dr. Butler's return to 441 

, massacre at 246 

, Mission-liouse and Orphanage of. 517 

— — •, our first visitor at 221 

■ , preaching at, before Havelock's 

men 442 

, warning to flee from 234 

Baugh, Major, escape of his lady from 

Moradabad 263 

Bentinck, LordWilliam, abolishes Suttee 394 
Bhagvat Geeta, the, a sacred book. ... 24 

, its rules of moral perfection for 

Yogees 202 

, rejects the common origin of our 

race 24 

Boiohill, Dr., communication from, be- 
fore Delhi 289 

Brahma, the length of his " Days " and 

"Nights" 77 

Brahmin, portrait of a 21 

, assumptions and prerogatives of a 28 

, definition of the term 24 

, import of investing a, with the 

sacrificial cord 24, 31 

■, legal discriminations in favor of a 33 

, oath and salutations of a 32, 34 

, person and property of a, invi- 
olate 493 

, the four stages of life of a 31-37 

, whimsical rules of action for a 34 

Brahmins, arrogant claims of the. ... 20 



P.oge 
Brahmins no longer the learned claes 

of India 38 

, forms of devotion of the 27 

, the priestly caste 28 

, Vanaprastha, or hermit life of the 35 

Bullubghur, Nawah of, address of, at his 

trial 426 

Butkr, Dr., arrival of, at Bareillj^ 221 

, arrival of, at Cawnpore 413 

, last sermon of, at Bareilly, be- 
fore the flight to Nynee Tal 235 

, midnight ride through the Him- 
alayan forest 284 

, prayer of, in llie jungle 239 

, perils of, in the wilderness 283 

, preaching for Havelock's men. . 442 

, return of, to Bareilly 441 

Campbell, Sir Colin, appointed Com- 
mander-in-chief. 272 

, laconic reply of. 273 

, meets with Havelock and Outram 353 

, starts for Lucknow 352 

Campbell, the martyred, last letter of, 

to Dr. Butler 463 

Carpenter, Miss, her patronage of the 

Brahmo Somaj 93 

Caste, origin and divisions of 23, 30 

, exclusiveness of 30 

Castes, Hindoos 'divided into four. . .23, 24 

, import of the term "23 

Gawnpore, surrender at, to Nana Sahib. 300 

, breaking out of rebellion at. . . . 295 

, captured one day too late 309 

, General Wheeler's preparations 

for the defense of. 294 

, Havelock's men at the well of. , 310 

, situation of 294 

, the massacre of tiie ladies at . . 307 

, the " WeU " at, two views of. . . 311 

, treachery of Nana Sahib at. . . . 300 

, view of " House of Massacre " at. 304 

Chandalas, cruel law concerning,. ... 32 
Christ, his government of men explains 
the changes and overthrow of em- 
pires and religions 163 

Christianity opposed to the fundamen- 
tal principles of Hindooism. . . .23, 29, 31 

alone creates a true home 57 

the friend of native education ... 38 

woman's highest charter of rights 487 



570 



THE LAND OF TEE VEDA 



Page 

Chronology of the Jf indoos 76 

'^ ChujxcUies" similar to the "Feast of 

the Moon Loaves " in ChiDa 226 

Olive, Lord, laconic note of, to General 

Forde 273 

Cotton famine, education in India stimu- 
lated by the 222 

Dancing, forbidden by Hindoo senti- 
ment to virtuous women 45 

Delhi, massacre at 228 

, desolation of 413-416 

, Dr. B.'s arrival in 413 

magazine, "Willoughby's gallant 

defense of 229 

. news of the fall of, received. . . . 408 

, siege of, by a small English force 278 

, visit to royal captives awaiting 

trial at 425 

, visit to the Emperor of 421 

Dewanee Khass, view of the 117 

, Christian service in 427 

, scenes of blood within the walls 

of the 125 

, utter ruin of the 113 

Dhava, Bajuh, builder of the Iron Pillar 168 
Duff, Rev. Dr., disastrous voyage of, to 

India ". 262 

, kind reception hj I(t3 

, on Mohammedan intolerance. . . 277 

Duleep Singh, character and influence 

of: 50-53 

, education and conversion of. ... 50 

, portrait of 48 

Durbin, Rev. Dr., suggestion of, in re- 
gard to a mission field 213 

. extract from letters to. . . . 245, 291 

Durga-Poojah festival 400 

Divarper Tug 76 

East India Company, misrepresentation 

of Christianity by 358 

, idolatry patronized by 403 

. overthrow ofas a governing body 458 

, their doctrine of "neutrality ".. . 405 

Editor, Hindoo 54 

Edioards, Judge, incident concerning. . 270 
Elleniorough, Lord, folly of, in the En- 
glish Parliament 359 

, nobly answered by Baboo Duck- 

inaiunjun Mookerjee 360 

Emperor of Delhi, portrait of 106 

, numerous beggarly dependents of 174 

England, material interest of, in India. 73 

conscious of her high trust, and 

moral obligation to India 75 

■, enemies of, the Fakirs, Brahmins, 

Thugs, and criminal classes gener- 
ally 373, 374, 397, 401, 420 

, the Mohammedans in India gen- 
erally opposed to 177, 275-277 



Eternity, Brahminicai attempts to map 

out 77 

Etmad-od-Doulah's Tomb, view of 150 

" Fakir," a self-torturing. . . , 196 

, import of the term 192 

, Eimam Bhartee, and little babe. 281 

Fakirs, astonishment of Alexander and 

army at the sight of ] 92 

, expense of supporting 204 

-, hold themselves superior to the 

claims of common decency 198 

, humorous verses on 197 

, numbers of, in India 203 

, painful pilgrimages of 198 

, portraits of 193 

, " the secret service " and post- 
men of the Sepoy rebellion 205 

, their appearance and influence. . 191 

Frendnule. deprecated by Hindoos.. 365 
Friends of tJie Theological Seminary . 5-30 
FaUijpove, Havelock's victory at 339 

'''' Garment of Praise " the 270 

Geography of the Hindoos 80 

Glossary of Indian terms 559-568 

Gowan, Colonel, wonderful escape of 

him and his party 247 

. interview of Dr. Butler with, at 

Meerut 430 

, munificence of. 432 

Greased cartridges, terror created by. . 223 
Grihastha, an order of Brahmiuliood . . 35 
Gymnosophists, Fakirs so designated 

by Alexander the Great 192 

Harem, the term defined 47 S 

Havelock, General, and his men at the 

Well of Cawnpore 1 309, 341 

, defeats Nana Sahib at Ahirwa . . 340 

, fights his way through Lucknow 

to the Residency 345 

, last service of, conducting the la- 
dies out of the Residency 354 

, leaves Calcutta for Cawnpore.. . 333 

, opportune return of, from Persia 

to India 273 

-, portrait of 334 

, prevented advancing to Luck- 
now 343 

reinforced, and on his way again. 344 

, sketch of life, conversion, and 

military service of 335-338 

, triumphant death of 355 

, victory of, at Futtypore 339 

Himalayas, journey across the. ...... 412 

Hindoo mind, freedom foreign to the. , 429 

, portrait of a 17 

Hindoos, original home of the 16 

, astronomy of the 82 

, chronology of the 76 



INDEX. 



571 



Page 
Hindoos, coudition of, in tlio time of 

Alexander tlie Great 89 

, French rule deprecated by the. . 365 

, geography of the 80 

, literature of the 95-100 

, mythology of the. 79 

, passion of for display 59-62 

, portraits of four j 7 

, the, an effeminate people 18 

. their methods of measuring time 78 

Hindustani estimates of British rule, 
by Baboo Duckiuarunjun Mookerjee. 361 

by Baboo Keshub Ohunder Sen. 368 

by Baboo Bholonauth Ciiunder, 

865, 369-370 

. by Satyendra Nath Tagore. .... 366 

, by the "Som Prukash " 365 

, from "Sleeman's Recollections" 371 

Home, its true sense unknown in In- 
dia 56 

Hunooman, the Mars of India 98 

India, capacity for self-government 

wanting in 72, 429 

, civil and reUgious statistics of. . 67 

, diversity of races in 66 

, first Mohammedan conquest in. 204 

, greater tliau Eui'ope, leaving out 

Russia 69 

. habits, education, and amuse- 
ments of the aristocracy of 54-58 

, languages spoken in 68 

——, names of, and their significance . 70 

, number of British troops in, in 

1856 73 

, style of dress of gentlemen of . . 49 

, " " a lady of 42 

, trade, railroads, telegraphs, and 

wealth of .' 70 

, value of, to England 73 

Infanticide, female 470-476 

, the, in the Lucknow Court. ... 453 

Iiglis, Lady, te^-timony of, to the 

soothing influence of prayer 331 

Irishman, the, blown up with the Mu- 

chee Bawun fort 327 

, the, ill Lucknow court 453 

Iron Pillar, description of the 167 

, import of inscription on 168 

, its mystery 168 

, the palladium of Hindoo domin- 
ion 167 

Jain Temple, in Delhi, visit to 417 

Janvier, Joel T 550 

Joel, the first native helper of the M, 

E. Church in India 214 

, escape of, from Bareilly 259 

, joyful meeting of, with Dr. But- 
ler, on the road to Meerut 434 

, portrait of. 215 



Jones, Sir William, facetious designur 

tion of Polyandry by 497 

Judson, Mrs. Ann Hazeltine, grave of, 

at Amherst 156 

Jmnma Musjid, desecratiou of 418 

Jungle, the prayer in the 239 

KaliJca Purana, the, quoted 399 

Kali Tug, the 76 

Kairm-dera, the Hindoo Cupid, Prayers 

addressed to 479 

Kesliub Ghunder Sen, representation of 

Vedic teaching by 92 

, opinion of missionaries of 367 

Klum Bahadur, his treachery' and cru- 
elty 237, 269 

, his trial and death 446 

, visit to, in prison 443 

Koh-i-noor diamond, its last possessor. 50 

Kootub Minar, view of the 157 

, origin and object of 161 

, peerless majesty of. 159 

, the monument of a dead city and 

a dying faith 163 

Ksliatriya, caste of the 29 

Kurnaul, Nawab of, noble conduct ot, 
during the rebellion 280 

Lady of India, portrait of a 40 

Lalla PookJi, quotation from, mistake 

of the poet corrected 119 

Lawrence, Sir John, noble conduct of 

during the rebellion 406 

, official paper of, issued in behalf 

of justice to native Christians 464 

Lawrence, Sir Henry, appointed gov- 
ernor of Gude. 319 

, disastrous defeat of, at Cliinhut. 321 

, injunction of — ^^ Never to surren- 
der !'' 329 

, killed in the siege of Lucknow.. 327 

Luclinow, arrival and reception of Dr. 

Butler at 207 

, Dr. Butler contemplates a mis- 
sion at 212 

. efforts of Havelock to reach . . . 343 

, Havelock fights his way through 346 

, "Jessie Brown," and her "Dinna 

ye hear tlie slogan f " 353 

, lawlessness and depravity of, in 

1856 208 

, preparations for defense of. ... . 319 

, repeated attempts to storm 331 

, siege of, begun 325 

, the capital of Gude 207 

, the Muchee Bawun fort at, blown 

up 325 

, the relief of, view of 348 

, the "Residency," view of 317 

, tlie Residency reached, and the 

ladies saved 349 



572 



THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



Page 
Luckuow, results of the conflict viewed 

from the Residency of 449 

— — , unequal conditions of conflict at S23 

Mahabaimta^ the, a famous epic of India 99 

, the, I'ecognizes polyandiy 496 

Mahadeva, temple of, in Delhi, confu- 
sion and wreck of 419 

Maha Pralaya, the, or great destruction 77 

Maria., martyrdom of 512 

Marriage ceremonies, extravagance in 

connection with 60 

Martel, Charles, great victory of 12 

Martin, Montgomery, remarks upon the 

partiality of 443 

Meeriit, mutiny and massacre at 228 

, sad service at the post-office of. 433 

Menii, his svstem of caste a practical 

failure..." 31 

Menu, Institutes of, their abundant le- 
gal provision for divorcing wives. . . 495 

, discriminations of in favor of 

Bi'ahmins 33 

, forbid a wife to eat with her 

husband 492 

, harsh rules of, for a widow's life 501 

, hold a widow to be bound to 

her husband when he is dead 502 

, hold the power of a woman's 

curse to be a motive of marital lib- 
erality 494 

, inflexible ordinance of, in regard 

to choice of a wife 484 

, on the marriageable age of girls. 47*7 

, ordain that the person and prop- 
erty of a Brahmin should be invi- 
olate 498 

, ordinances of, for selecting a 

wife 480, 481 

, quotation on caste 23, 29 

, quotation on Chaudalas 32 

, quotation on a Brahmin's oath. 32 

, rules of, for the orders of Grihas- 

tha and Yanaprastha 35 

, rules of, for the order of Sannyasi 36 

, relax the law of female seclu- 
sion in favor of Fakirs, Brahmins, etc. 191 
, stern demand of, for a wife's sub- 
ordination 487 

Methodist Episcopal Church, mission 

field of the, in India 212 

, Christian orphanages of 506 

, first place of worship of, in India, 

view of 435 

, inside view of 438 

, organized its first Conference in 

Asia at the close of 1864 526 

Missionaries better understood and 
more trusted than government offi- 
cers 406 



Page 
Missionaries of the various societies 

killed by the Sepoys, names of 261 

, eulogy of, by a Brahmin 372 

, by Keshub Chunder Sen 376 

, estimate of, by Duckinarunjun 

Mookerjee .. 363 

Mogid Emperor, the, accepts English 

protection 109 

, bargain of the, with the English 171 

, Dr. B.'s interview with the last 421 

, insufficiency of the munificent 

provision for the , 173 

, portrait of the last 106 

the pageant of, felt to be a bore 175 

, the last, unmarked grave of . . . . 426 

Mohammedan invasion of India. . . .19, 104 

bigotry of, illustrated in the death 

of Khan Bahadur 446 

— — sovereigns of India ; character of 

their rule 107 

, sovereigns, their sad record. ... Ill 

Mohammedans, dress and appearance 

of 20, 63 

Mohammedanism, repulse of, from West- 
ern Europe 12 

, its hatred of Christ and Chris- 
tians 177, 451 

-, the real spirit of the Moslem 

Creed 277 

Montgomery, Sir Robert, his reception 
of the fii'st missionary in Lucknow. . 443 

Moomlaj, Empress, notices of 143-147 

, the Taj built for the tomb 

of. 144, 147 

Moore, lines by, on Mohammedan bru- 
tality .' 104 

, mistake of, in Lalla Rookh cor- 
rected 119 

, Persian couplet over the De- 

wanee Khass, quoted by 119 

" Mutiny baby," the 263 

Mythology of the Hindoos 79 

Nana Sahib, a hypocrite without an 

equal •. 185 

, ambition and disappointment of 182 

, character of his palace 184 

, history of 181 

, infernal treachery of 300 

~— — , massacre of the ladies by 307 

Nana Sahib, lying and blasphemous 

proclamations of 275 

, portrait of 180 

, probable end of the 309 

Nauch girl, portrait of 44 

girls, character of 46 

, import of term 45 

Naivab of Rampore, proffers assistance 

to refugees at Nyuee Tal 279 



INDEX. 



573 



'■'■Neutrality''' of the East India Com- 
pany not understood 189, 405 

Noor Jehan, the " Daughter of the Des- 
ert," her singular history 151 

Nynee Tal, view of . 243 

, Dr. Butler's first entrance mto. . 242 

, first chapel in 434 

, joyous salute heard at 408 

, measures of defense at 266 

, panic at, and flight from. ...... 282 

— , refugees at, hungry for news. . . 269 

, singular panic of besiegers of . . . 408 

Orphanages of the M. E. Church in 

India, origin of 506 

, the need of 519 

Oude, annexation of 20*7 

, discouragements by British offi- 
cials in regard to establishing mis- 
sions in 212 

, history of, presents a record of 

violence, perfidy, and blood 211 

, its last king, Wajid AH Shah, 

portrait of 209 

, necessity for the annexation of. 20*7 

, Queen of, protests against annex- 
ation 102 

" Outcasts^''' cruel law concerning 32 

Outram, Sir James, magnanimously 
waives his right to command in fa- 
vor of Havelock 344 

, interview of, with the dying 

HaA'elock 356 

Pana, the, its value 33 

Paradise, illustrated from the Dewanee 

Khass 120 

Parisnaih, two as large as life, in Delhi 418 
Parsees, (followers of Zoroaster,) num- 
ber of, in India 67 

Peggy, matron of our Female Orphan- 
age, portrait of 218 

Peggy'' s sacrifice for her Saviour 214 

'■Peishwa,'''' import of the title 178 

Permissive Providence of God, instance 

of 231 

Pierce and Humphrey, Rev. Messrs., 

suppose Dr. Butler dead 410 

, joyful meeting with, in the Taj 

Mahal 433 

Poictiers, Abder Rahnum's defeat at. . 12 

Polyandry 497 

Polygamy 494 

Post-office, the regular, distrusted by 

the Sepoy conspirators 190 

Prayer, the, in the jungle 239 

, soothing effects of 331 

Presbyter'ian Church, missionaries of, 

murdered 15, 261, 298, 294 

37 



Presbyterian Church, M. E. Mission in- 
debted to, for its first native helper. 
Presbyterian missionaries did not die in 

vain 466, 

Priests of Mahadeva, interview with . . 
Prime, Dr., testimony of, to the im- 
provements in India 

Providential interpositions : — 

General Sibbald's timely absence. 
Singular panic which fell upon the 

besiegers of Nynee Tal 

The night in the Terai 

The night in the Himalayan for- 
ests 

Punjab, its preservation in the hour of 
trial 



Page 
214 

467 
419 

461 

232 

408 
289 

283 

407 



Rajpoots, their pride and cruelty 475 

Ramayana, outline of the ". . . . .95-99 

Rampore, Naivab of, noble conduct of, 

during the rebellion 279 

, exposed to danger in consequence 

of aiding us 281 

, munificent liberality of, to the 

Woman's Missionary Society 525 

Rig- Veda, the 84 

Robertson, Judge, deceived by Bahadur 

Khan 287 

, execution of 249 

Roe, Sir Thomas, in the Court of the 

Mogul 122 

, a changed scene in Delhi from 

what he witnessed 422, 424 

Romanism, failure of, to improve its 

opportunity in India 145 

Russian rule not desired by the people 

of India ." 355 

Sacontala, the, forbids inquiry concern- 
ing the wife of another man 488 

, injunction as to the subordination 

of younger to elder wives 496 

Sannyasi, rules of life for 36 

Satya Yug, the 76 

Saugor Isle, its accursed scenes 473 

Sepoy Rebellion, the, originating causes 

of ." 170-190 

, causes of the failure of 427 

, criminals in the jails linked in 

with the 227 

, did not originate in patriotism. . 428 

Sepoy Rebellion, growing fear of the 
extension of the Christian religion a 

cause of the 189 

, how English government in India 

affecte<:l by 460 

. Mohammedan monopoly of place 

and power a cause of the 186 

, no native Christian joined the. . . 464 



574 



THE LAND OF THE VEDA. 



Page 
Sepoy Rebellion, opened a career for 

Christians in India 465, 526 

, opening of, at Meerut and Delhi. 228 

— — , position of the Delhi Emperor 

respecting the 170 

, probable number of English per- 
sons killed in the 260 

, promoted by false prophecies and 

news 225 

, promoted b_v the criminal classes 

and disaffected elements 401 

, results of, to Christianity in India 463 

, results of, to the East India Com- 
pany 458 

, results of, to the Hindoo race. .. 45*7 

, results of, to the Mohammedan 

portion of the population 451 

, results of the, to the Sepoy Army 450 

, " secret service " and post-office 

of, in the person of the Fakirs 205 

, encroachments of English law on 

peculiar institutions of India a cause 

of the 190 

, the annexation of Oude a cause 

of the 188 

, the greased cartridges made the 

occasion for 223 

Sepoi/s, the native force of the English 

in' India 72 

, blown from English guns — how 

and why 313-316 

, spirit they generally manifested. 445 

, fidelity of some, at Lucknow. . . . 351 

, number and description of 73 

, the ruin which they dragged 

down on themselves and others 450 

Shajehanpore, fearful massacre at. . . . 259 

Shalimm-, the gardens of 115 

Shaster, the, on a wife's seclusion .... 486 

, the abominable injunction of, on 

a wife's subordination 487 

Slcraad, purpose of 476 

, blowing from guns deemed a pre- 
ventive of the 313-816 

Sihbald, General, undue confidence of . 232 

jSeeta, the rape of 96 

jSoma-juice, the libations of the ancient 

Hindoos 88, 91 

Suttee, view of a 375 

, abolished by Lord Bentinck. . . . 394 

, extent and motives of 384 

, instances of 387-393 

, mode of 381 

, modern Hindooism alone de- 
mands 379 

, without Vedic sanction 378 

Taj Mahal, a mausoleum 133 

, appearance of, at sunrise and by 

moonlight 134 



Page 

Taj Mahal, first viev/ of 129 

, joyful meeting in, with the first 

Methodist missionaries 433 

, matchless grace and beauty of the 141 

, materials used in construction of 130 

, remarkable effect of music in the 139 

, the architect and cost of the. . . 148 

, to whom erected 148 

, view of, from a distance 128 

, view of, inside the garden. Frontispiece 

, view of the entrance gate to. . . . 132 

TaM Taous, or Peacock Throne, of 

Shah Jehan 116, 422 

Theological Seminary of India at 

Bareilly 529 

Thugs, portraits of 396 

, interview with two hundred .... 398 

, murderers by profession 399 

Treta Yug, the 76 

Troup, Colonel, warns Dr. Butler to 

flee 234 

, General, in command of Have- 
lock's brigade 442 

Tacker, Judge, heroic death of 339 

'■^ Twice boj'ji," import of the phrase. . . 24 

Vanaprastha, or hermit life, rules for. 35 
Vedas, collated and published by for- 
eigners 41 

, licentiousness of the worship in- 
culcated in the 91-93 

, a willful corruption of the, the 

foundation of Suttee 378 

, the. common misapprehension of 

their character 92, 93 

, deities mentioned in the 86 

, the, do not sanction the usages 

of modern Hindooism 85 

, the, polytheistic character of . . . 86 

, samples of the .90, 95 

, the, sanction beef eating 87 

, their age, number, and character 84 

Wages of a laboring man in India . . . 506 
Wellesley, Marquis, makes infanticide a 

capital crime 474 

Wentiuorth, Rev. Dr., invites Dr. Butler 

to join him in China 432 

Wheeler, General Sir Hugh, fatal mis- 
take of 295 

Widow, re-marriage of a, forbidden. . . . 502 

Widowhood in India 497-502 

Willoughhy's gallant defense of the 

Delhi magazine 229 

Woman debased by the Hindoo sys- 
tem 31 

forbidden bv law to eat with her 

husband ." 492 

, last hours of a, in India 504 

— — of India in full dress, portrait of a 40 



INDEX. 



575 



Woman, training of a youthful Hindoo 482 

Womaii's Foreign Missionary Society of 
tlie M. E. Cliurch 521 

, munificent liberality to the, by 

the Nawab of Rampore 525 

Women of India doomed" by modern 
Hindooism to a life of ignorance .... 42 

in India at present unable to cre- 
ate a true home 5*7 

in India, higher social position 

of, in the Vedic age 88 

in India never dance unless they 

ai'e prostitutes 46 

, courtship of, unknown in India. 49*7 

, statistics of education of. ...... 42 

, widowhood of, in India 497-502 



Women, wrongs of, legalized in India.. 469 
WoocMde, Bev. J. S., interview of, with 
the Emperor of Delhi 424 

" Yogee^'' meaning of the word 203 

Yogees, or silent saints of India, por- 
traits of 200 

, singular rules of moral perfec- 
tion for, from the Bhagvat Geeta. 

201, 202 

, superstitious veneration for. . . . 203 

Zeenat Mahal, last Empress of Delhi, 

portrait of 1 1 1 

Zenana, the term defined 479 

Zenana Schools, number of pupils in . . 42 



